A long-awaited solution to a major plastic recycling challenge has been revealed in a report and blueprint launched in Parliament this week.
The report, titled “The Future of Recycling Flexible Plastic Packaging in the UK,” provides a comprehensive blueprint detailing how flexible plastics, such as food packaging, film, and carrier bags, can be cost-effectively collected and recycled.
The report is the result of the three-year FlexCollect project which piloted different collection and processing methods for flexible plastics across 10 local authorities and 160,000 households across England. The work was led by Ecosurety, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, RECOUP and WRAP and sponsored by the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF), of which Nestlé UK and Ireland is a founding member.
It is the largest trial of its kind in the UK to date and collected over 400 tonnes of flexible plastics, equal to more than 50 million bread bags.
Key findings from the trial revealed that collection of flexible plastics was relatively straightforward if done with other local authority recycling collections. Householders in the trial were happy to put their flexibles in to brightly coloured bags (which could be easily be collected and spotted at sorting facilities and reported an 89 per cent satisfaction rate with the new system.
Once collected and sorted, the flexible plastic was recycled into flexible plastic products such as plastic bags, or plastic timber products such as fences and benches.
However, while the pilot proved that collection, sorting and public participation is clearly achievable, the absence of UK-based recycling infrastructure will present a challenge in the future and the report calls for an acceleration in investment in UK-based reprocessing capacity and the development of robust end markets for recycled flexible plastic packaging.
Alison Bramfitt, Head of Packaging at Nestlé UK and Ireland, said: “It is our ambition that all our packaging is designed to be recyclable or reusable by the end of this year. Being a founding member of the Flexible Plastic Fund and supporting this pilot is key to achieving this ambition. We are heartened by the results of this pilot and an important step in how, as an industry as a whole, we tackle recycling flexible plastics.
“We are committed to finding solutions to support recycling infrastructure and have invested in Impact Recycling, who will process flexible plastics into new products. We are dedicated to ensuring our packaging can have multiple lives and doesn’t end up as waste in landfill. Supporting innovative technologies like this is just one of the many steps we are taking towards achieving this goal.”
As the UK prepares for the mandatory nationwide rollout of flexible plastic recycling by 2027, the FlexCollect report hopes to accelerate investment in UK-based reprocessing capacity and develop robust facilities for recycled flexible plastic packaging.
