Nowhere but up for UK’s plastics packaging recycling

United Kingdom – The recycling of plastic packaging in the UK has grown more than 50% since 2009, according to the latest market update from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). The report cites a ‘sharp increase’ in local authority collections of recyclables.

Nearly 70% of local authorities in the UK had introduced mixed plastic collections by 2014/15. For post-consumer plastics, the recycling totals for the period were 231 000 tonnes for PET bottles, 108 000 tonnes for PTTs and 348 000 tonnes for film.

The market update describes the launch of the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan as ‘an important lever’ in helping achieve both existing UK and future EU plastics recycling targets by means of co-ordination across the entire supply chain.

‘This report provides much-needed clarity to some of the challenges the sector has faced recently as well as confidence on where to invest next,’ comments WRAP director Marcus Gover. ‘Plastic recyclers don’t have to wait for oil prices to rise again. There are markets out there that will work that aren’t linked to oil prices.’