European Aluminium and Metal Packaging Europe has launched a joint Roadmap towards achieving 100% aluminium beverage can recycling by 2030.

The Roadmap reflects the conviction among aluminium producers of cansheet, manufacturers of aluminium beverage cans and recyclers of used aluminium beverage cans that the full potential of the aluminium beverage can as a front-runner in a truly circular economy can be achieved within the next ten years.

The Roadmap was launched during a webinar this morning, organised jointly by the two associations and attended by over 200 stakeholders, a collaboration which will be vital to achieving this ambitious, but realistic, aim.

Oliver Graham, Chairman of the Beverage Can Commission at Metal Packaging Europe, said: “Made from a permanent and infinitely recyclable material, easily sorted and efficiently recycled, and with this in mind, achieving a 100% recycling rate for beverage cans by 2030 is a realistic aim, based on maximising the circular potential of the aluminium beverage can.”

Andy Doran, Chairman of the European Aluminium Packaging Group added: “While we are confident that we can achieve this ambitious target, it will require the participation and support of the entire value chain. We therefore call on our partners, including brand owners, retailers, consumers, packaging recovery organisations, recyclers and others, to further improve the collection of cans, as part of a join mission to fully close the loop.”

Kestutis Sadauskas, Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Environment, welcomed the initiative: “The aluminium industry can be praised for its efforts to improve the recyclability rate of aluminium beverage packaging. But work still remains to be done. Our ambition is that all packaging put on the EU market in 2030 is either recyclable or reusable. A transformative joint effort is necessary to make all packaging circular, to reduce inefficiency and environmental impact, and I do not underestimate the challenge. The Commission acknowledges the importance of aluminium as a resource towards a circular and low carbon economy. We must also play our part and the Recovery and Resilience Facility will provide large-scale financial support to investments.“