Twence coordinates the logistics involved in collecting and forwarding glass, paper and hazardous household waste for municipalities.

Over 80% of the one-off glass packaging in the Netherlands is recycled, thanks to the widespread use of bottle banks. That is a good thing, since the used glass can be use to make new jars and bottles. Indeed, recycling glass saves raw materials and energy and prevents over 400,000 tonnes of waste each year. And every 10% of new glass made from cullets (nuggets of recycled glass) means an energy savings of 2.5%. On average, glassworks use cullets for 50% to 80% of the glass they produce, depending on their availability.

Old paper and cardboard provide about 75% of the raw materials for paper production in the Netherlands. For the production of paper and cardboard packaging, newspaper, toilet paper and paper towels, the use of recycled material amounts to no less than 83–100%.

Hazardous household waste is transported to specialised processors. They see to it that even for these “difficult” waste streams (which include things like paint products, fluorescent lights and batteries) half the waste can be reused.