BPF comments on UK Government response to Landfill consultation

Following the ‘Introduction of restrictions on the land filling of certain waste’ consultation DEFRA has confirmed that the UK has met its 2010 Landfill Directive diversion target and that they will not be introducing Landfill bans on items such as used plastics

 

‘We welcome the Minister’s announcement that there will not be a landfill ban on used plastics or other materials. In our response to the consultation the BPF stated that although we wanted to divert used plastics from landfill by 2020, there simply isn’t enough UK recycling and energy from waste capacity to take the material from landfill in the short term,’ says Peter Davis, Director General of the BPF.

 

“First and foremost we don’t want plastics littered or land filled, we want it back for recycling. If for some types of material recycling doesn’t make economic sense or environmental sense, then it should be sent to Energy from Waste facilities to provide much needed heat and power,” adds Davis.

 

While the BPF applauded the Government’s commitment to drive waste from landfill it highlighted the UK’s over dependence on landfill making clear that with only seven years of landfill capacity left in England and Wales – as warned by the National Audit Office – it is highly unlikely that the UK will achieve its Landfill Directive target by 2013. The BPF attributed this to a lack of standardization of approach by local authorities in waste recovery and the slow rate of waste recycling in the UK.

 

“There’s only seven years Landfill capacity left in England and Wales. The BPF is not confident that the UK will achieve its next Landfill Directive target by 2013 due to haphazard local authority collection systems and too little recycling and energy from waste facilities,” says Davis.

 

 

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry – representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.