BPF Recycling Group says Defra's proposed goal to recycle 57% of U.K.'s plastics packaging by 2017 will require 1 million tonnes of new capacity, might affect quality of sorted plastics

Lorena Madrigal

LOS ANGELES , January 4, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – The British government’s proposed target to recycle 57% of the U.K.’s plastics packaging by 2017 was called “breathtaking” by the British Plastics Federation Recycling Group (BPF-RG), reported MRW Magazine on Jan. 4.

The goal, which is currently under review in a consultation process that runs from Dec. 16 until Feb. 10, is proposed by the Dept. for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and would involve a 5% yearly increase in the recycling rate from 32% in 2013.

To reach the target would require an additional 1 million tonnes of material recovery facility (MRF) capacity, and might adversely affect the quality of sorted plastics used as raw material, said the BPF-RG.

So challenging is the target that it will require “a coordinated and structured approach involving all stakeholders,” the organization indicated, MRW Magazine reported.

The stakeholders would include “national and local government, waste management companies, plastics recyclers, the investment community, and critically retailers and brand owners,” said Roger Baynham, chairman of the BPF-RP.

These stakeholders would have to work together to bring about the “innovation, technology, enterprise and funding upon which this vision will fundamentally reply,” he said.

The goal goes beyond the 50% target by 2020 set by the industry-funded Plastics 20/20 Challenge, reported MRW Magazine.

The primary source of this article is MRW Magazine, London, England, on Jan. 4, 2012.
 

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