Actual issues of procurement and supply of cullet for the glass industry

Currently, in Russia the bulk of glass waste is generated in waste generated by the population. At the same time, in the total mass of municipal solid waste, glass is 12.0 million tons per year. No more than 10% of the cullet formed is sent to secondary production. This is primarily due to the fact that the system of separate collection of household waste from the population is not properly established, and there is also a weak involvement of the population in the processes of MSW processing. Collecting a significant amount of cullet is not an easy task, so there is a shortage of cullet.

The percentage of secondary melting of cullet at glass mills in Russia can be increased to 100% in the production of brown and green glass, and up to 80% in the production of colorless glass. Currently, in the countries of the European Union and other developed countries, this practice is widespread.

As part of the business program of the Upakovka-2020 packaging technology exhibition, which was held at the end of January 2020, the session “The Circular Economy in Packaging — Expectations and Reality” was held. Maria Kartuzova, Deputy Head of the Representative Office in the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts, spoke at the event from the StekloSouz Association. In her presentation, she suggested involving the country's inhabitants in the process of separate collection of household waste, including glass containers and cullet, through incentive mechanisms.

One of such mechanisms could be the creation of conditions for the proactive collection of recyclables with monetary incentives. However, the current legislation does not allow citizens to engage in this type of activity, since it requires the payment of personal income tax (PIT) from the profit received or the preparation of a package of documents for obtaining a tax deduction. Failure to comply with these requirements entails punishment in the manner prescribed by law.

Since the income of individuals from the delivery of raw materials (glass containers and cullet) is not large (compared with plastic or paper) and there is an obligation for individuals to report to the tax authority on the sale of such waste, in practice, it is quite difficult to organize the collection of cullet and glass containers population in the volume in which the waste is formed.

In this regard, it was proposed to amend the Tax Code of the Russian Federation to exempt citizens from tax on personal income, income from the sale of secondary material resources. The exemption of individuals from this tax will allow to develop the activity of the population to collect secondary resources, including cullet.

Another incentive mechanism may be a reduction in utility bills during separate collection of municipal waste. A reduction in the utility fee is possible if the amount of the utility service fee for handling MSW is determined based on the actual amount of MSW formation, and not due to the area of the living space or the number of residents. This measure can reduce the cost of utilities for the population up to 60%, including by making a profit from an HOA or housing cooperative when selling recycled materials to processing companies.

On the other hand, it is possible to introduce decreasing coefficients to the norms of MSW accumulation when using the separate MSW collection system (0.96 - when sorting into two types of waste, and up to 0.86 - when sorting into three types of waste and more). This measure will help to reduce the cost of municipal services for MSW management by 15%, if we accept the above coefficients.

REPORT OF Kartuzova Maria Nikolaevna, Deputy Head of the Representative Office of the StekloSouz Association in the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts.

PHOTO 28th INTERNATIONAL SPECIALIZED EXHIBITION OF PROCESSING AND PACKAGING "UPAKOVKA - 2020"

Press Center StekloSouz.