A new report shows United Kingdom businesses need to deal with highly complex technical and economic challenges in order to meet plastic reduction targets,
Members of the Plastic Pact initiative are making progress against all four targets set under the waste reduction programme, but key challenges remain if the group’s long-term goals are to be met.
That is the conclusion of the latest official update from the group’s convenors, waste charity WRAP, which for the first time details baseline data for the use of plastics and plastic recycling rates from members of the Plastics Pact.
The British environmental news website BusinessGreen reports it also outlines actions taken by individual members towards the targets, which were established at the group’s launch in April 2018 and which must be met by 2025.
Eighty-five businesses across manufacturing, retail, food service, and the recycling industries are now signed up to the pact, which requires members to commit to four targets covering eliminating unnecessary use of plastic, recycling plastic packaging, and increasing the recycled content of packaging.
Data collected from members of the pact reveals that one billion problematic and unnecessary single use plastic items will be eliminated by the end of next year.
BusinessGreen reports several items such as straws and cotton buds have already been phased out by the majority of members, while supermarkets have removed 3400 tonnes of plastic packaging from fresh produce, and 137.5 million plastic stickers from fruit and vegetables.
Members of the pact have also signed up to ensure that 100 per cent of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
WRAP’s data reveals that when the pact began only 65 per cent of the plastic packaging sold by members was recyclable.
Supermarkets have since removed more than 19,000 tonnes of non-recyclable black plastic from supermarkets, with British supermarkets Morrisons and the Co-op removing the material completely from own brand products and replacing it with plastic that is an alternative colour or clear, which is easier to be recycled.
However, the report highlights a number of major barriers to meeting the recyclability goal, such as developing a recycling system for plastic films such as bread bags and crisp packets.
These hard to recycle materials account for 25 per cent of consumer plastic packaging, but only four per cent is recycled.
All major supermarkets have started to provide plastic recycling collection points in store for stretchy film plastic, such as frozen food bags, carrier bags, and bread bags, WRAP said.
The report found that almost half of plastic packaging was already being recycled when the Pact began, adding that recycling rates should continue to increase as new investment in recycling facilities comes online.
Examples include a £27 million processing plant from waste management company Biffa which will open in January 2020, WRAP said.
Pact members have also pledged to achieve an average of 30 per cent of recycled content across all plastic packaging.
The baseline data shows that packaging already contained around 10 per cent recycled content in 2018, saving more than half a million barrels of oil.
However, increasing recycled content’s share to 30 per cent will be challenging as currently there is not enough high quality recycled plastic available, the report states. Designing packaging to make it easier to recycle will be vital to meet the target, WRAP said.
Marcus Gover, chief executive of WRAP, said that the way plastic was made, used and disposed of was transforming, but he added that there was no “magic wand” for meeting the targets.
“We’re unpicking a highly complex and well-established system and making sure that we don’t simply displace the environmental cost elsewhere,” he said.
“Retaining the valuable role plastic packaging plays, especially in preventing food waste, is crucial.
“We can’t gamble with the climate in our desire to tackle plastic pollution.”
Tackling the technical challenges presented by films and flexible packaging, increasing recycling rates, and developing re-use and refill models for packaging were the pact’s top priorities, he added.
The report also noted that several other countries have followed the example set by the UK-based Plastic Pact group, including the Netherlands and France.
Pacts are also being developed in Chile, Malaysia, and South Africa, with more countries in the pipeline, WRAP said.
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