Recycling rates for aluminium cans reached 76.3% in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland in 2023, according to a new report.
The report from Metal Packaging Europe (MPE) and European Aluminium (EA) found that both volumes of aluminium cans placed on the market and recycling tonnages increased year on year, by 4% and 7% respectively.
This amount of recycled tonnage reduced Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 5.7 million tonnes of CO₂eq, the report found.
Commenting on the findings, Krassimira Kazashka, CEO of Metal Packaging Europe, said: “We are encouraged by the latest achievements and believe the industry is on the right long-term path.”
“Aluminium is a permanent material and a circular resource whose inherent properties do not change, regardless of the number of times it goes through a recycling process.”
MPE and EA say the continued increase in recycled aluminium volume reflects a general uplift in recycling performance, which was accentuated in countries with Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) for aluminium beverage cans.
The report found that when Malta introduced a DRS in 2023, the country’s aluminium beverage can recycling rate rose from 50 to 80%.
Both Latvia and the Slovak Republic were found to have experienced year-on-year double-digit growth in recycling rates in 2023 following their implementation of a DRS in 2022, according to the report.
Director of the Packaging Group at European Aluminium, Andy Doran, commented, “Year on year the evidence builds that well-designed DRS offer consumers the additional incentive to return high-value aluminium beverage cans for high-quality recycling, at the same time creating the opportunity for closed product loop, circular economy solutions within Europe.”
