Plastic:
let's sort it
Recycling plastic in the UK is far from consistent
o into your kitchen and open your fridge, freezer or cupboards. Take out everything that’s made of plastic. Bags of pasta or rice, bottles of oil or sauce, cartons of milk and juice, packaging around meat and fish, bags of veg, freezer bags, container lids and washing up liquid bottles. The list goes on – and that’s just one room. Now, could you separate these into plastic types? Probably not and even if you could, it would be time-consuming.
With more than 50 different types of plastics, this makes it more difficult to sort and reclaim than other materials. Almost all types of plastics are fundamentally recyclable. Yet, the extent to which these are recycled is dependent on a range of factors. For instance: whether the technology is available in your area, the costs and the market for the material. So, sorting it is not that simple.
There are seven main types of plastics:
G
Polyethylene Terephthalate
This symbol is normally found on soft drinks, water bottles, vegetable oil containers and mouthwash bottles.
Commonly recycled
As an example, Leeds City Council do not accept the plastic types: 3 (V), 5 (PP), 6 (PS) and 7 – so that’s things like pots, trays and yogurt pots. A Freedom of Information request reveals the reasons to why Leeds City Council do not recycle these certain types of plastic. The response says:
“There is limited reprocessing capacity for these plastic types currently. It would be difficult at this time to provide certainty that these plastics would be actually recycled if accepted in the green bins. Also, since pots, tubs and trays are currently made from a range of non-recyclable plastics, and not just type 5, to allow these in the green bins would be expected to increase the treatment and disposal costs of waste in Leeds as a result of the double-handling of these non-recyclable plastics.”
At times it is not realistic for authorities to recycle all types due to costs and other challenges like contamination.
But on the other hand, some authorities have a relaxed policy on plastic recycling. Western Riverside Waste Authority (London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, Wandsworth and Lambeth), has the point of view that irrelevant of plastic type (within reason) it will reprocess it all. So, if it doesn’t end up being recycled it will go through waste energy recovery.
Deputy General Manager at WRWA, Sharon Ross says: “Landfill is the worst, the absolute worse - there is a waste hierarchy. We don’t landfill anything, which is good, but we can send it to waste energy incineration.”
Which plastics you can recycle is completely dependable on the infrastructure and market in your local area. But this can cause more issues like miscommunication.
Miscommunication between local authorities and retailers
Of all the plastic you can find in your household waste, two thirds of this packaging cannot be recycled, as it mixed with non-recyclables or it is not economically viable. When you inspect the label closely, you often read ‘not currently recycled’. What is more confusing is that different local authorities recycle different items to others. For example, the only plastic Greater Manchester recycle in kerbside bins are plastic bottles (Type 1 PET). Whereas Cambridge can recycle plastic bags, tubs and trays, as well. Some labelling indicates that it is recyclable. Meanwhile, your district may not accept it in their recycling bins. It can be contradictory.
“If there is not a clear message, how can we expected people to know what to do? If you have to think about it, you have lost the battle,” says Conrad Hart-Brooke, lead packaging development manager at Pladis Global (McVities, Ulker and GODIVA).
Ms Ross, deputy general manager at WRWA London, says “It’s the communications, that’s what is not consistent. There are some items that you can’t recycle in certain areas, but can in others.”
In response to this miscommunication, the non-profit company OPRL (On-Pack Recycling label) introduced an app called 'We Recycle'. The aim is to help consumers understand which products they buy are recyclable. People can scan product bar-codes with their phones to identify its recyclability.
Mr. Hart-Brooke, Pladis, says:
“OPRL engage with a lot of brand owners, including us. They are the organisation behind labelling. It is descriptive and arguably oversimplified. There is a massive problem in that different local authorities do different things and so are conflicting with each other.”
Charity Hubbub partnered with OPRL to explore if an app would increase recycling rates, as their target demographic increasingly communicates through technology. Creative Partner at Hubbub, Jess Wiles, says: “We have found that the app has had a relatively low take up, so we are doing some surveying to understand whether technology is something that people want to help them.” They are analysing this data and results should be released in May.
What is recyclable in your area?
It is advised that residents check their local authority to identify what is permitted in their household bins. You can use this website
Is consistency the key to success?
Plastic waste is collected in different ways too:
Some councils collect all their recycling in one bin or sack
Others ask households to separate their plastics from the rest of their recycling
Councils also employ various companies to collect and sort their plastics. So, the schemes around the UK are completely diverse.
However, this could change. The Waste and Resource Strategy produced by the Government aims to ensure more consistent schemes from council to council. It is an attempt to make it easier for people to know what they can recycle wherever they live in the country. But, is this a realistic idea? Should these policies remain situational for a reason?
An officer from Leeds city council comments:
“Leeds have a transit population like students, so people come and live in Leeds for longer- or shorter-term period and bring their practice from wherever they’re from into Leeds. If it was the same across the country it would be more straightforward. But of course, it is situational. We don’t standardise across Leeds because
we recognise that one size does not fit all.”
Leeds also takes a view that some areas need different approaches because “offering the same scheme is too simplistic”.
In contrast, more consistent systems seem to be performing well, such as Wales. Wales outperforms England, Scotland and Northern Island in terms of household recycling waste.
The graph below shows that Wales has the highest household recycling rate in the UK from 2010 to 2017. Overall, the recycling rate for waste from households has increased in all UK countries over this period. The recycling rate in 2017 for England was 45.2%, compared to 46.3% in Northern Ireland, 43.5% in Scotland and 57.6% in Wales. There is an EU target for the UK to recycle at least 50% of household waste by 2020, which is still not being met.
Most of Wales’ 22 local authorities are signed up to the Collections Blueprint, which standardises refuse and recycling collection. Seemingly, this is a contributor to its general success and high recycling rates.
“However, it costs more. But is funded by the devolved Welsh government,” says Mr Hart-Brooke, Pladis.
David Harding-Brown, co-founder of Packaging Collective, comments: “The issue with Wales is even with a uniformed strategy, you do get problems if the infrastructure is not set up to cope with it. It has to be commercially viable.”
Yet, perhaps we should adopt a system that is clearly performing better than the UK.
Or is it too late for us?
Steven Blackburn, associate director at Wood PLC (waste management): “If we want to standardise, we would need to invest a tonne of money in upgrading plants, that do not yet need upgrading to put those commodities in. In some cases, some of new commodities can be expensive in the short-medium term. And you also don’t always have secure markets. 15 years ago, we had one tetra pack facility in the UK which was struggling. Should a council have to try to ship it off internationally and pay uncertain rates.
In hindsight, I wish that we pushed for some standardisation 15-20 years ago. But it is too late in the day to try to standardise something which has moved so far.”