Maltha

What Maltha does

Maltha is a European glass recycling company headquartered in Heijningen, Netherlands, founded in 1921 and operating as a joint venture owned 67% by Renewi (waste-to-product) and 33% by Owens-Illinois (world's largest glass packaging manufacturer). The company runs seven specialized processing facilities across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Portugal, with combined annual capacity exceeding 1 million tonnes of glass waste, and employs approximately 250 people. Its output is sold as secondary raw materials to glass packaging manufacturers, glass wool producers, and other industrial offtakers; selected customers include Owens-Illinois, Saint-Gobain, URSA, and Swarco.

Maltha's core products are organized into four lines: (1) Hollow Glass cullet (4-40mm, color-separated white, green, brown, mixed); (2) Flat Glass products from windows, windscreens, mirrors and greenhouses; (3) Glass powder (sub-1mm) for glass furnaces, brick, sandblasting, and pool filters; and (4) PVB recovered from laminated glass for extrusion applications. The processing technology combines optical sorting, laser detection, X-ray detection, magnetic and eddy-current separation, and a proprietary dry (water-free) processing method developed in cooperation with Delft University of Technology, achieving contamination levels of 10-25 grams per 1,000 kg and an overall recycling rate of 97.8%.

The business model is sales-led B2B: Maltha charges municipalities, collection companies, and industrial customers per-tonne processing fees for glass waste intake and earns a separate transaction margin on the sale of cullet, powder, and PVB to glass and glass wool manufacturers. Pricing is quote-based, varying by glass type, color, purity, quantity, and delivery mode (truck or ship). End markets are horizontal and B2B-heavy — glass manufacturers and glass wool producers are the primary offtake segments, with municipalities, hospitality/retail, and construction/automotive serving as intake sources. The company is certified to ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001, holds End-of-Waste status at multiple sites, and operates at CO2 Performance Ladder Level 4.

Name

Maltha

Legal name

Maltha Groep B.V.

Website

https://maltha-glassrecycling.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1921

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Glass Recycling Services

NAICS

Materials Recovery Facilities (562920)

akta.pro primary industry

Glass Processing & Beneficiation (Cullet Production) (BPALADAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Glass Processing & Beneficiation Facilities (EUAIADAF)

Keywords

• Glass recycling
• Cullet supply
• Waste-to-product
• Flat glass recycling
• Circular raw materials

Headquarters

HQ city

Heijningen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Glass Cullet Sales: Maltha processes glass waste and sells the resulting clean glass cullet (shards and powder) as raw materials to glass and glass wool manufacturers. Revenue is generated through the sale of recycled glass products with prices based on quality, color, and quantity.
2. Collection and Processing Services: Fees charged for processing glass waste from municipalities, businesses, and collection companies. Services include advisory on collection, transport coordination, and container rental.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Maltha processes post-consumer and post-industrial glass waste into high-purity recycled glass cullet, glass powder, and recovered PVB for use as secondary raw materials by glass packaging manufacturers, glass wool producers, and construction/automotive industries. The company also provides glass waste collection, transport, and container rental services to municipalities, hospitality businesses, and industrial customers across four European countries.

Product overview

Maltha is a leading glass recycling company offering a unified portfolio of circular raw material products. The core offering consists of four product lines: (1) Hollow Glass Products — colour-separated cullet (white, green, brown, coloured) from packaging glass at 4-40mm sizes; (2) Flat Glass Products — recycled flat glass from windows, car windscreens, mirrors and greenhouse glass; (3) Glass Powder Products — fine glass powder below 1mm for use in glass furnaces and industrial applications; and (4) PVB Products — recovered polyvinylbutyral from laminated glass for extrusion applications. The portfolio includes more than 20 standard cullet types separated by quality, colour and size. Maltha processes over 1 million tonnes of glass waste annually into high-quality secondary raw materials for the glass, glass wool, construction and automotive industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Holglasproducten (Hollow Glass Products)

Quantifiable outcome

• 0.67 kg CO2 saved per kg of recycled glass cullet used
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, minor and core.

• Saint-GobainflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 February 2025Collaboration on solar panel glass recycling pilot within the Photorama project. Successfully processed 75 tons of solar panel glass that was then used by Saint-Gobain in flat glass production. This represents a breakthrough in circular economy for solar panels.
• DenuominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Belgian federation of the waste and recycling sector with more than 250 members. Maltha is a member. Denuo inspires and advises governments and producers toward circular economy, and develops collaboration ecosystems between producers and material processors.
• Photorama ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020European consortium of 13 interdisciplinary partners funded by Horizon 2020 programme. Aims to improve solar panel recycling and resource recovery. Maltha serves as the glass recycling partner, demonstrating upcycling potential of solar panel materials including glass, metals, silicon, silver, and indium.
• Owens-Illinois (O-I)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2000Owens-Illinois Inc. (O-I) is the world's largest manufacturer of glass packaging and holds minority ownership (33%) in Maltha. They operate in 23 countries with 79 factories and 27,000 employees worldwide. O-I provides market access and technology collaboration, with Maltha supplying cullet to O-I factories including locations next to Maltha's facilities in France.
• Delft University of TechnologycoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 1993Maltha developed unique advanced processing facilities in cooperation with Delft University of Technology and various machine builders. This partnership contributed to creating some of the world's most advanced glass recycling processing technology.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Renewi plc: Renewi is Maltha's 67% parent and one of Europe's largest waste-to-product companies with operations across 174 sites. While Renewi's portfolio spans many waste streams beyond glass, its waste management and recycling breadth makes it broadly comparable as an industry incumbent.
• Veolia Environmental Services: Veolia operates a large network of MRFs and recycling facilities across Europe and globally, processing glass among other recyclables. It is a broad incumbent that competes for upstream collection and sorting contracts relevant to Maltha's input streams.
• SUEZ Recycling and Recovery: SUEZ (now part of Veolia in many geographies) operates materials recovery facilities and glass recycling streams across Europe. As a broad environmental services incumbent, it competes for municipal and commercial recycling volumes and is comparable through its integrated waste-to-resource business model.

Emerging players

• PreZero (Schwarz Group): PreZero is the recycling and waste management arm of the Schwarz Group, rapidly scaling glass and materials recovery operations across Europe. It represents an emerging but well-capitalized competitor pursuing similar circular-economy recycling infrastructure.
• Sibelco: Sibelco is a major industrial minerals supplier with glass recycling operations producing high-purity cullet for container glass and fiberglass. It overlaps with Maltha in supplying cullet into glass furnaces but is differentiated upstream by mineral extraction.

Direct peers

• Saint-Gobain (Recycling Division): Saint-Gobain both supplies Maltha's cullet in flat-glass production (Photorama) and operates its own glass recycling programs for sustainability targets. Its vertical interest in recycled flat-glass feedstock makes it a customer and a partial competitor in upstream recycling initiatives.
• Strategic Materials Inc. Strategic Materials is the largest glass recycler in North America, operating numerous processing facilities that recover container glass cullet for sale to bottle and fiberglass manufacturers. It is the closest direct competitor to Maltha in scale and business model outside of Europe.

Others

• Reverse Logistics Group (RLG): RLG provides take-back, compliance, and recycling services for packaging waste including glass, working with brands and PROs across Europe. While not a direct recycler, it is an adjacent ecosystem participant influencing volumes and mandates that affect Maltha's input supply.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maltha-glass-recycling

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maltha