Plastics useful resource effectivity and recycling charity RECOUP has revealed its 2022 UK Plastic Packaging Sorting & Reprocessing Infrastructure report, which reported that there’s a clear bottleneck within the UK’s recycling infrastructure for plastic recycling.
The report famous the UK’s capability to type each family and non-consumer plastic packaging from different supplies into separate plastic streams, and to reprocess it into uncooked supplies and merchandise.
RECOUP mapped the recycling amenities and researched the operational capacities as a way to produce quite a few eventualities to check the necessities for recycled plastic packaging towards the UK’s capability to provide the fabric. The eventualities checked out benchmarks set by each the UK Plastic Packaging Tax and the state of affairs the place the UK’s materials export markets had been not an possibility. The UK at the moment depends closely on these to realize its recycling targets.
The analysis appeared to search out that important will increase are required for reprocessing plastic packaging within the UK. This contains the necessity to improve the present recycling infrastructure by 5 occasions for household-like plastic packaging and 9 occasions for meals grade plastic packaging. Except resolving this reprocessing bottleneck is given the mandatory precedence and funding, and finally, possession, the UK will be unable to say it has a world-leading recycling system.
“RECOUP believes it’s crucial that enough funding via the reform of the UK’s Packaging Producer Duty System (in any other case generally known as Prolonged Producer Duty) goes to the appropriate areas. The reprocessing infrastructure wants important funding and help, significantly when these companies are open to variable industrial situations, reminiscent of elevated power prices and lowered materials worth.”
Steve Morgan, Head of Coverage and Infrastructure at RECOUP, commented: “The way forward for the UK’s recycling options for plastic packaging is in its personal fingers, however I’m afraid we’d let slip this excellent alternative to channel applicable funding into the excessive affect areas that would rework the UK’s infrastructure capabilities. Efficient assortment and materials sorting to ship top quality recycling outputs is crucial, however we’re in danger round not supporting the reprocessing sector. The capability to provide the ultimate uncooked supplies to allow a round financial system to exist will simply not be in place.”
