European Aluminium (EA) and Metal Packaging Europe (MPE) have released a report which shows that the overall recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans in the European Union, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland reached 76.3% in 2023, representing a Greenhouse Gas emissions saving equivalent to 5.7 million tonnes of CO2.
The records for the year show that both volumes placed on the market and recycling tonnages increased year on year, by 4% and 7% respectively, indicating that record volumes of aluminium recycled from cans were fed back into Europe’s circular economy.
EA and MPE state that the continued increase in recycled aluminium volume reflects a general increase in recycling performance, particularly in countries with Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) for aluminium beverage cans. In 2023 Malta introduced a DRS which led to a 50-80% increase in recycling.
Apparently, both Latvia and the Slovak Republic experienced year-on-year double-digit growth in recycling rates in 2023 after implementing a DRS in 2022. Latvia increased from 60% to 74% and the Slovak Republic from 58% to 91%.
Director of the Packaging Group at European Aluminium, Andy Doran, commented: “Year on year the evidence builds that well designed Deposit Return Schemes 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. Full Member State implementation is still needed of the Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation National requirements for DRS, so that all EU citizens can now experience this simple and effective collection solution.”
Towards the end of 2025 Dozz presented its chilled, ready-to-eat soup in an aluminium can, designed to be consumed straight from the pack and recycled at end-of-life. It seeks to provide flexibility for retailers and out-of-home outlets and meet consumer demand for convenient, waste-free and sustainability-minded packaging.
Last month the European Aluminium Foil Association and Flexible Packaging Europe founded an alliance to improve recycling performance for small aluminium packaging, supported by Nestlé Nespresso, JDE Peet’s, Lindt, and Bel Group. The companies aim to achieve higher recycling rates for small aluminium formats like coffee capsules, chocolate and cheese foils, and dairy lids.
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