5% increase for plastic recycling Packaging Regulations target

Despite its unquestionable contribution to society, plastics packaging still gets a bad press and is under significant pressure for the environmental impact it causes as waste.

The Packaging Regulations target for plastic recycling has been increased by 5% per year until 2017, requiring a near doubling of current recycling levels and an annual increase of 100,000 tonnes but there are concerns over whether that will be possible given the costs of collection and the potential markets.

The UK has relied heavily on exports to achieve the growth required over the last 15 years as the graph below shows, but is this dependence on overseas markets for our plastic waste sustainable?

Two recent reports highlight the potential problems we may face in the future through our lack of UK capacity.
The Chinese Government has issued instructions for officials to crack down on the import of waste. In particular, they have been told to enforce stricter quality requirements to prevent the import of waste masquerading as recyclables and to better manage foreign waste. This had led to a noticeable increase in trading volatility for waste plastics.

And Europe has now issued a Green Paper on plastic waste suggesting a potential ban to landfill but also wanting to ensure the waste is then managed in line with the waste hierarchy and recycled, not just recovered through waste to energy incineration. The Paper also questions whether product design policy should aim at encouraging reuse of plastic products; if greater voluntary action is needed from retailers and producers to ensure plastic is used more efficiently; and whether the use of bio-degradable plastics should be promoted within the supply chain.

The Circular Economy is emerging as the key priority for both politicians and industry and nowhere is this more appropriate that in the need for an integrated approach to managing waste plastic. The UK’s facilities have extremely limited capacity for growth and we cannot just keep exporting our problems. This highlights the need for high quality recyclate that DS Smith firmly believes needs a segregated collection policy and we fully recognise the need to ensure our customer’s recycling needs are sustainable in the face of increasing global constraints.