Beverage cartons are a safe, circular and sustainable packaging solution with low carbon benefits, which are currently recycled at scale (51%* in 2019) throughout the EU.

Although the recycling rate for beverage cartons have continued to increase throughout the years, more can be done.  Effective collection and sorting, which is the precondition to recycling, is needed to ensure beverage cartons are properly recycled.

ACE – The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment – the beverage carton industry’s European platform is calling for an EU wide collection target to ensure:

• Member States meet their legal obligation to collect all packaging separately
• Transparency around collected/recycled materials
• Accurate reporting of collection and/or recycling rates based on an harmonised approach on targets across the EU

In their Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond, the industry laid out their commitment to significantly increasing the collection and recycling of beverage cartons to reach 90% and 70%, respectively.

We invite you to learn more about the collection and recycling of beverage cartons and to reach out to ACE for further questions.

A recent study undertaken by Roland Berger* highlights that an EU wide collection target for beverage cartons would considerably contribute to the realization of the already set recycling target of 85% for packaging and board at EU level. 

Explore the results below and learn more about how beverage cartons are critical for the EU food and beverage market as a sustainable packaging solution with the lowest carbon footprint.