Verallia pledges to act on glass reuse
- Publication of a white paper: “Reimagining reuse for the circular economy of glass: Stakeholder Perspectives Series”
- Launch of the “Reuse Lab” to accelerate the implementation of local and sustainable glass reuse solutions
- To make reuse a viable solution for the planet, consumers, and glass packaging, Verallia is making three strong commitments
With the packaging waste problem continuing to grow at speed around the world today, focusing on packing reuse as part of the solution is an urgent issue. Verallia, Europe’s leading and third largest producer of glass packaging for food and beverages, is pleased to announce the publication of its white paper “Reimagining reuse for the circular economy of glass: Stakeholder Perspectives Series “, which explores the challenges and opportunities around reuse through the testimonies of leading experts. To deepen the debate, the Group is launching its first “Reuse Lab” event – a forum to accelerate the development of local and sustainable glass packaging reuse solutions. To help make reuse a viable solution, Verallia is making three major commitments to action: to push for experimentation, to partner to stimulate innovation, and to share experiences and best practices.
Publication of a white paper on reuse
Verallia wants to be an agent of change and use its glass-making expertise to help design new reuse systems and improve existing ones. Throughout 2021, Verallia exchanged ideas and worked with various stakeholders to advance the debate on glass packaging reuse. The white paper(1) published today brings together the state of the field on reuse through a range of perspectives and is the first of its kind coming from the glass industry. The paper proposes ‘7 action areas for scaling glass reuse’ which offer rich ground for collaborative action among reuse stakeholders.
Launch of the « Reuse Lab »
In 2020, Verallia made three major commitments to “Reimagine glass for a sustainable future(2)”, by: fostering innovation in the glass value chain to reduce CO2 emissions, mobilizing to increase the rate of recycled glass, and making reuse a viable solution for the planet, consumers, and glass packaging.
The “Reuse Lab” exemplifies Verallia’s ambition to make the circular economy of glass a reality and is part of the Group’s ESG roadmap, presented in 2021, which includes the following objectives:
- 46% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2019 and 2030(3)
- Achieving carbon neutrality in 2050 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions
- Implementation of a pilot project for reuse in France by 2025(4)
Today’s event is designed as forum for action-oriented exchange and brings together players in the circular economy, customers, experts in the food industry, partners and employees of the Group. The “Reuse lab” will help facilitate the implementation of the pilot project in France by 2025 and, more generally:
- Gather thoughts and compare points of view;
- Learn from experiences in the field around the world, in order to identify what works best;
- Accelerate the implementation of local and sustainable reuse solutions and consider their duplication on a larger scale whenever possible.
Michel Giannuzzi, chairman and CEO of Verallia, commented:
“The biggest challenge for the glass packaging industry today is our CO2 emissions. On the journey towards carbon neutrality, we also need to be much smarter still about the recycling and reuse of glass. We must drive a dual-track approach; always looking for means to reduce emissions, while looking for the most effective ways to reuse and recycle our products. Because reuse is part of the answer for the future of the glass industry, we need to understand the complex challenges: from changing consumer behaviours and relevant product design, to the logistics of glass collection and cleaning, and developing new business models for reuse in different policy environments across our markets. Our core belief is that glass packaging reuse can only be a viable model if it is understood and treated as a systemic challenge, thus prompting us to work closely with all stakeholders in the entire ecosystem.”
Chaired by Michel Giannuzzi, CEO of Verallia, the “Rese Lab” brings together some of the white paper’s contributors, in the presence of the Group’s customers, partners and employees, to discuss the ideas and calls to action presented in this report: Andrew Morlet (CEO, Ellen Mac-Arthur Foundation), Björn Knoop (Head of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, fritz-kola), Adeline Farrelly (Secretary General, FEVE, The European Container Glass Federation), Tobias Bielenstein (Director of Public Affairs, Sustainability and Communications, Genossenschaft Deutscher Brunnen), Karsten Fuchs (Member of the Board, Verallia Deutschland), Emily Lin (Global Packaging Sustainability Program Manager,, Diageo), Scarlette Elizee (Sustainability Outreach Lead, Carrefour), Gonzague Gru (Co-founder and Partner, Uzaje), Virginie Helias (Chief Sustainability Officer, Procter & Gamble), Sophie Nguyen (Head of Development of Solutions for Recycling and Bulk, CITEO), Tom Szaky (Founder and CEO, TerraCycle and LOOP).
Verallia pledges to act
To make reuse a viable solution for the planet, consumers, and glass packaging, Verallia is making three strong commitments:
- Push for experimentation: Large-scale glass reuse requires new ideas, innovative practices and new business models. The “traditional” reuse model can still work in some situations, but innovations are needed to make reuse a sustainable and economically viable practice over the long term. That’s why, we are setting up the first ‘Reuse Lab’ to test and experiment with different solutions. Within Verallia, the Reuse Lab will be formalised into a dedicated team, comprised of a range of experts in reuse and reporting regularly to the Verallia Sustainability Committee.
- Partner to stimulate innovation: Verallia cannot meet the operational and behavioral challenges of glass reuse alone and make it a replicable and scalable model. To address priority issues (consumer and business incentives, product design, process standardization, etc.), Verallia is committed to developing relationships with potential partners within the circular economy ecosystems and experts.
- Share experiences and best practices: Verallia will continue to share lessons learned, challenges encountered and new ideas. The Group will ensure that it is constantly pushing the boundaries. For Verallia, sharing means looking to the future and contributing to change.
- The white paper is available on Verallia’s website
- The Verallia group’s purpose was unveiled on October 20, 2020
- Scope 1 direct emissions = CO2 emissions within the physical perimeter of the plant, i.e. carbonated raw materials, heavy and domestic fuel oil, natural gas (fusion and non fusion). Scope 2 “indirect emissions” = emissions linked to the consumption of electricity necessary for the operation of the plant.
- See page 18 of Verallia’s ESG strategy presentation (21/01/2021)