Verallia France Brings To Fruition Its Project For Glass Reuse With Bout' à Bout'

Verallia France, a subsidiary of the European leader and 3rd largest producer of glass packaging for beverages and food products worldwide, has announced the start of a pilot project with the start-up company Bout' à Bout' in the Pays de la Loire region. In line with the Group's CSR commitments, which provide for the launch of such a project in France by 2025, it marks a key stage in supporting and structuring the development of a dedicated sector in France. A veritable catalyst in reducing environmental impacts, a reuse system of this kind can divide the energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of glass bottles by a factor of four^¹.

A high-impact investment to structure a reuse sector in France
Verallia France is strengthening its commitment to the reuse of glass packaging by making its pilot project reality. Out of the many local initiatives for reuse, the Nantes-based start-up Bout' à Bout', founded in 2016, caught the Group's eye with its ability to steer the reuse cycle end-to-end, from the collection of glass packaging to washing all the way to redistribution. Over year 2022, Bout’ à Bout’ collected more than 700,000 reusable bottles in the Pays de Loire Region. These bottles are on the list of the 500 products referenced by Bout’ à Bout’, and are collected from 220 partner points of sale and collection - most often local food shops.

Verallia France is taking a minority stake in the start-up as part of a fund-raising operation. Bout’ à Bout’ will finance the construction of an infrastructure suited for industrial washing, to ultimately reach 60 million bottles.

“A true pioneer in reuse in the Pays de Loire since 2016, Bout' à Bout''s model is already very far along and is paying off at the local level. We want to support them in their ramp-up by providing real technical and financial support for the construction of a washing station capable of supporting their ambitions. We will also make available to them our glass expertise, for example, in managing quality controls. The objective is to apply the same rigour to reuse as applies to each new packaging unit that comes out of our production lines. We will also be able to share our logistical know-how, as concerns palletisation, storage and transport to customers. The idea is to give customers whose business so allows access to a reuse solution that is relevant, safe and efficient for them. ”, explains Pierre-Henri Desportes, Managing Director of Verallia France.

"Our priority is to set up a washing site near Nantes, in Carquefou (44), enabling us to wash nearly 10,000 bottles/hour initially, and ultimately 20,000 bottles/hour, i.e. capacity of more than 60 million bottles and jars per year. Operational in mid-2023, this site will offer the highest capacity in France. ”, adds Yann Priou, Managing Director of Bout’ à Bout’.

The re-use of glass bottles, one of the pillars of Verallia’s CSR roadmap
In line with its corporate purpose -- "reimagining glass to build a sustainable future” -- the Group's CSR roadmap includes three priorities: reinforcing the circularity of glass packaging, decarbonising its activities and guaranteeing a safe and inclusive working environment for all.

The re-use of glass packaging has emerged as one of the initiatives for improving the circularity of glass. It is the focus of significant virtuous advances and is part of the answer for the future of the glass industry.

Aware of the ecological issues at stake, Verallia is a pioneer in the glass industry in terms of reuse. Verallia organised an initial Reuse Lab in Paris in March 2022, which attracted more than 200 players to reflect and discuss the subject and make reuse an economically and ecologically viable solution - resulting in the publication of a White Paper^² .

^¹ A Verallia calculation, in which one reusable bottle is assumed to complete twenty cycles (based on a 95% return rate) in the same region of France, compared to a single-use, lighter, recycled bottle.
^² View the White Paper here: Rethinking reuse to promote the circular economy