Coca-Cola: Waste Review needs to focus on quality

The government must use the Waste Review to stress the need for the UK to focus its recycling efforts on the quality and not quantity of material collected, according to soft drink giant Coca Cola Enterprises.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, the company – which makes, sells and distributes Coca Cola products in Great Britain – said the policy document needs to recognise the need to target high quality material for recycling when it is published later today (June 14).

Coca Cola Enterprises added that the Waste Review could also help aid councils and companies working together to ensure key materials such as paper, cardboard and steel are collected, regardless of issues such as collection frequency

Patrick McGuirk, European recycling director at Coca Cola Enterprises, said: I think, for me, the debates around weekly versus bi-weekly collections, they may grab the public interest but I think the main thing is looking at what is collected. We would like to see central government put a bit of pressure on what is collected

We have to make sure we dont miss out on high quality material that is there, that is addressing both quality and quantity. I know from talking to others in the industry it is something that really is important to the reprocessors.

Mr McGuirk said that the companys interest in the UK waste sector had been buoyed by its on-going work with plastic bottle recycling firm ECO Plastics having invested 5 million into the firms Hemswell plant to help it expand (see letsrecycle.com story).

As we have seen working with ECO Plastics, it is what is collected that is really important. And, there is quality raw material that is not being collected in the UK, he said.

Export

Elsewhere within the Waste Review, Mr McGuirk said that it was important to encourage the internal trade of material, and, therefore, cut the amount of material being sent to export markets.

There is way too much material going to export out of the UK, he said. And, it is now reasonable to see what measures can government take to ensure material stays within the UK.

Mr McGuirk added that packaging producers could aid an increase in quality materials being collected by taking responsibility to ensure as much recyclable material as possible can be used in packaging production.

What we are seeing now is [recyclers] looking at what is produced and I think we need, as something of a next evolution, for the packing industry and producers, such as ourselves, to come to the table and say we will only use materials that have a cradle-to-cradle potential, he said.

Mr McGuirk has previously stated a willingness on behalf of Coca Cola Enterprises to work closely with local authorities to ensure greater levels of high quality PET plastic bottles can be recycled (see letsrecycle.com story).