The trade confederation said that the quantity of recycled glass used in making new containers increased by more than 80,000 tonnes to 617,500 tonnes in 2003.
This took the proportion of recycled glass in the average new container in Britain to 38%, four percentage points up on 2002.
Some 100,000 tonnes of glass was exported to container manufacturers elsewhere in Europe. And a further 175,000 tonnes went to uses such as shot blasting, water filtration and production of construction materials.
The final total, which is still subject to confirmation by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is expected to be around 875,000 tonnes.
Andrew Hartley, British Glass' strategy and communications director, said: "This performance is only the start of the growth needed to meet the 60% glass recycling target for 2008 under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive."
Glass packaging recycling shows major increase
UK reprocessors recycled 18% more glass packaging last year compared to 2002, new figures have revealed. Figures from British Glass show that 875,000 tonnes was recycled last years, compared with 747,000 in 2002 and 736,000 in 2001.