Recycling Plastic Packaging

Is plastic recyclable?

 

Yes, the different types of plastic can be recycled. In fact, the technology exists to recycle all types of plastics. Plastics packaging can be recovered and recycled into a variety of items including:

• Durable goods for our homes and businesses

• Insulation to keep our homes dry

• Agricultural products to improve farming

• Lightweight transport to reduce fuel consumption

  

In terms of the products we use every day, plastics collected for recycling have undergone a transformation. Councils are obliged to provide a domestic collection from our kerbside and recycling rates in the UK have been improving steadily.

Household plastic bottle recycling collection in the UK has increased by over 2,000% since 2001. 

Learn more

See who is involved

 

Download  our 2018 Plastic Packaging FAQs 

 

 

How much plastic is recycled?

Only 26% of all plastic used in the UK ends up in landfill. In terms of plastic packaging, 45% (1,015,000 tonnes) of all plastic packaging used in the UK was recycled in 2016. This is an improvement of 15% from 2015.

Source: Environment Agency. National Packaging Waste Database

In terms of overall plastic recycling, the UK is now ranked 10th out of 30 EU countries. For plastic packaging recycling, the UK is ranked 7th overall and 2nd for commercial and industrial packaging recycling. Please see the table below, an extract from Post-consumer Plastic Waste Management in European Countries 2016 - EU 28 + 2 Countries. Plastics Europe. November 2017. 

Plastics The Facts 2017 - Plastics Europe

Where can I recycle my plastic?  

99% of local authorities in the UK offer kerbside recycling schemes for plastic bottles and 79% also recycle plastic pots, tubs and trays, find out more here. The Recycling locator above will confirm which items you can recycle from your home. There are also recycling banks available for certain types of plastic film at larger stores of certain supermarkets. 

What can I recycle?  

UK local authorities offer a kerbside collection service of many plastic packaging items. The percentage of councils collecting all items has been increasing. In September 2015, the collection rates were as follows:

More information:Source: RECOUP. UK Household Plastics Collection Survey 2015 

• Understanding the recycling symbols on household products
• How to recycle a specific item 
• Plastic recycling symbols

Where can I recycle my plastic?

You can use our helpful tool here. 

What is plastic recycled into?

Recycled plastics are used to create all sorts of items, such as packaging, bags, car components, furniture, building materials, paint pots and even kerbstones.

 

Source: Plastics - the Facts 2015. Plastics Europe 

 

If packaging can't be recycled, does it matter?

It is desirable for packaging to be recycled if it can be. However, if a one-trip packaging product consumes less resources than a product that can be recycled, it is preferable
to use the one-trip packaging, as this will save resources. Products that can’t be recycled today, may be able to be recycled in the future. In addition, if it is not economically
sustainable to recycle something then it is always possible to recover the energy content through energy recovery. This is particularly true for plastics, as the calorific value of
plastic packaging is significantly higher than coal.

Why isn't all plastic packaging collected from households?

Recycling targets are set on the basis of tonnes, and plastic is a very light material. Some councils prefer to collect heavier waste than plastic packaging. However, the number of councils offering the collection of various recyclables has been increasing steadily.

What should we do to improve recycling?

Our kerbside collection system should be as consistent as possible. Wales is progressing in this area faster than England due to a carrot and stick system.

In Wales, the government has identified one system for collection. They encourage and incentivise councils to adopt that system with targets and funding to help the transition. The
Welsh government has a £6.5 million circular economy fund and a £5.75 million collaboration change programme to support 10 local authorities. Wales has now achieved an
exceptional recycling rate and would be considered third in Europe if it was an EU member state.

In contrast, England has three different options that local authorities are encouraged to adopt. But there are no targets or funding available if they choose to adopt one of the three proposed collection approaches.

Wales currently recycles 75% of all its bottles through a household collection service compared to 57% for all bottles (including shampoo, detergent etc) in the UK. Overall recycling rates in Wales varied from 50.3%-65.9% in 2014/2015, while England’s varied from 14.7% - 66.6% We should also be engaging in initiatives aimed at capturing the more difficult waste streams and less recycled items, e.g. 'on the go’ and bathroom products.

 

Is a Deposit Return Scheme a good way to improve recycling?

Not necessarily. In 2016, the UK recylced 74% of  PET/HDPE drinks bottles (Valpak). Some Deposit Return Schemes (DRSs) do help some countries achieve high recycling rates for bottles sold containing beverages. However, not all countries with a DRS achieve high recycling rates, some achieve rates for PET bottle recycling that are similar to or lower than current levels in the UK. Examples include: South Australia (65%), Hawaii (61%), and Oregon (52%). A DRS may even harm the overall packaging recycling rate. This appears to be what happened in Germany, when a DRS on single trip  packaging was introduced.

A DRS may also result in some unintended negative consequences.

• If refillable containers were excluded, we may see an increase in broken glass as part of litter, as witnessed in Germany. Source: Prognos. Effects of deposits on beverage packaging in Germany.
• There may be an attempt to avoid the deposit by creating unusual forms of packaging, which could be very difficult for the remaining kerbside system to accommodate.
• Small retailers may also be negatively affected if they are required to collect bottles manually and store bags/crates etc. in their store space.

For a DRS to offer the most benefit to the UK, it should complement rather than disrupt existing collection methods by focusing on those containers not presently collected for recycling – for example, 'on the go' consumption. Further work should be done to understand where the biggest shortfalls exist.

Finally, a DRS only targets beverage containers, which only account for just over 10% of plastic waste and less than 1% of all waste generated.

 

What should happen to plastic at the end of its life?

Many plastic items can be recycled at the end of their life. The first option is mechanical recycling – this is what people usually think of when they think of recycling.
The second type of recycling in is chemical recycling – where the plastic is broken down into it’s constituent parts. These technologies are still being developed. In the near future, we expect that the more difficult to recycle items will be chemically recycled into fuel and the building blocks for new plastic.

More information on chemical recycling

If recycling isn't suitable, another very effective option is energy generation from waste. Plastics make a highly efficient source of energy recovery. Many European countries are far
ahead of the UK in generating electricity and district heating via efficient energy-from-waste plants. For example, in 2012 Sweden's energy from waste plants produced heat for 810,000 households and electricity for 250,000 houses.

Source: The Swedish Recycling Revolution

Sweden's plants save the same amount of CO2 each year as 680,000 petrol-powered cars emit.

Source: Towards a greener future with Swedish waste to energy - the world's best example.

 

Is plastic packaging resource efficient?

The UK government’s guidance on waste management sets out the waste hierarchy. The hierarchy indicates the preferred method of waste management, beginning with the most desired option: prevention.

The plastics industry is constantly innovating and improving production and waste management to promote the waste hierarchy’s objectives.

Prevention: plastic packaging is lighter than it used to be — this means less raw materials are used. The industry also engages in an agreement to work towards reducing packaging and waste called the Courtauld Commitment.

Examples of lightweight packaging innovations:

• The Fez — Child resistant closure with 40% weight reduction.
• Super Lightweight Mono Material Trays — strong environmental credentials with excellent levels of performance and functionality.
• Infini Bottle — a lightweight, fit-forpurpose milk bottle with a reduced carbon footprint.
• Multilayer Polypropylene Jars — light, easy-to-open, resealable and recyclable food containers.

Preparing for re-use: Many types of plastics packaging are long-life artefacts. For example, returnable crates have lifespans of over 25 years and re-usable bags are playing a greater role in responsible retailing.

Recycling: Plastic recycling is always improving. Plastic packaging can have a new lease of life in building and construction or as furniture, a bag or footwear. View examples.

To read more about recycling visit the BPF Recycling Group.

Other recovery: At the end of its life plastic packaging can be submitted to energy-fromwaste schemes. Plastics are an effective energy source because they have a high calorific value.

Disposal: No plastics should be put in landfill. Currently 26% of all plastic in the UK still goes to landfill.

 

Why don't we use more compostable or biodegradable material?

Good environmental practice requires us to use the least material to do the job required, then to reuse or recycle by recovering material or energy from the products we use at the end of their life. For that reason, most plastic packaging is either recycled or sent to energy-from-waste plants (if recovery for recycling is not the best environmental option).

Where products are not presently collected for recycling it can be because there are high levels of contamination and/or the resources required to recycle simply makes it unsustainable at present. Most presently available compostable and biodegradable materials fail to recover material or energy. Currently, no materials have been proven to adequately biodegrade in the open marine environment.

When packaging can’t be easily recovered (because there is a high level of food contamination) and the process of waste management is compatible with compostable material, then compostable materials would be appropriate for returning the nutrients contained in the food.

However, if compostable or biodegradable materials get into the recycling stream, this can have detrimental effects, rendering the recyclate unusable. For this reason, where compostable material is used, it is important that this risk is recognised and managed.

 

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Are You Interested in Learning More About Plastic Packaging?

The BPF has created short e-learning courses that cover plastic packaging. If you're interested in learning more, you can access our CPD approved e-learning courses on sustainable plastic packaging here.

E-Learning - Plastic Packaging Understanding the Environmental Issues

 

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