Bottlenecks to Glass Return and Refill in the United Kingdom: User Journeys to Explore Industry Perspectives

Currently, only about 36% of collected glass in the UK is remelted to make new glass bottles. Exporting of glass has increased recently, causing supply issues. This raises the question of why there are not large-scale refill schemes for glass bottles. User Journey interviews were conducted with four senior representatives of key stakeholders to explore glass manufacturers’ and distributors’ perceptions about national refill schemes for the UK. Six themes emerged: policy/regulation, logistic, economics, industrial/technological areas, sustainability, and social arenas. Stakeholders agreed that investment in increasing the recycling rate in the UK could be a cheaper, faster and more sustainable approach.