BPF: don’t set bar too high for plastics recycling

United Kingdom – The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has urged the government to lower its plastics packaging recycling targets, Plastics & Rubber Weekly has reported. A 52% recycling target for plastics has been set for 2016, which will rise to 57% next year.

The BPF has suggested a recycling target of 48% for this year, with subsequent 1% increases annually to 2020. Such a standard would allow for proper review of the producer responsibility system in the light of ‘stresses’ in the plastics recycling sector. The federation estimates that the UK uses over 5 million tonnes of plastic each year – 38% or 2.4 million tonnes of it is used to create packaging – and in total an estimated 24% of plastic is currently being recovered or recycled.

There seems to be a consensus in the industry for a lower recycling objective as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) already lobbied with government officials last November, asking them to reduce the target for plastics packaging to 48%.