Major spending required to tackle plastic film recycling crisis
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 - 09:30:04
Analysis carried out by recycling firm, Axion, has revealed that the UK will need to spend £100 million if it wants to be able to collect and process the plastic film used in product packaging which is currently sent to landfill.
Materials Recycling World reports that over 400,000 tonnes of this type of packaging is thrown out each year, with company spokesperson, Richard McKinlay, claiming that there are not enough resources in place to change this state of affairs at the moment.
The report found that 80 per cent of common plastic packaging materials are fully recyclable, with the remaining volume requiring changes to the way that packaging is manufactured to make them possible to process sustainably.
The good news is that Axion has responded to the findings by coming up with a way to improve plastic recycling rates and make it more affordable. But McKinlay admitted that there was still some way to go before this was viable on a large scale.
The £100 million estimated price of overhauling the UK’s plastic film recycling infrastructure is not just about finding new ways of coping with this type of waste, but also about extending kerbside collections to more regions and educating consumers about the benefits of recycling plastics.
Experts argue that brands should be incentivised towards using packaging which is simpler to recycle at its core, rather than constructed in a way that makes it difficult to separate the different materials from one another after collection.
Furthermore, there is a need to fund businesses which will be able to take advantage of the recycled material itself, as this will help to make the entire process easier to justify, while also having economic benefits to the UK that will help to offset the cost of the initial investment.
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