BPF calls for recycled plastic packaging incentives

Packaging producers should be rewarded for using recycled polymers in their products, the trade body representing plastic producers and recyclers in the UK has said.

This is one of a number of measures that the British Plastics Federation (BPF) has put forward in a proposal paper published yesterday (May 30), with proposals aimed at increasing domestic demand for recycled plastic.

According to the group the UKs success in increasing the recycling rate for plastics has been to date, largely down to demand for recovered material from overseas, while demand from domestic markets has little better than flatlined.

But, the group says that action is needed to boost domestic demand for material due to uncertainty in the sustainability of export markets, particularly China, the UKs largest export destination for waste plastics, where the government is enforcing stricter quality requirements to reduce the amount of poor quality waste that enters the country from overseas- known as Operation Green Fence.

In the proposal paper, the group says that to date, most policies have focused on the push factors to incentivise the collection of materials, but focus needed to shift toward to pull factors such as developing existing markets and creating new applications for recycled plastics.

Incentives

And, the BPF says it is necessary to create incentives to drive investment in recycling and UK manufacturing to increase usage of recycled polymers. The proposal recommends the principle of offset against obligation under the producer responsibility system.

In practice the BPF says, this would allow the main producers and manufacturers, packer/fillers, and retailers to offset their PRN obligation by using recycled polymers in their products.

Roger Baynham, chairman of the BPFs Recycling Group said: We believe that the proposals contained in this paper will provide the much needed traction to develop end markets for recycled plastics which are so crucial given the uncertainties of the global waste markets and, in doing so, help deliver the UK Governments business development, wealth creation and sustainability agendas.

Amongst the proposals the group has repeated its call for the government to level the uneven playing field created by the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system, which is seen to favour exporters of material.

Packaging producers are obligated to pay for a certain amount of recycling each year, which is done through purchasing PRNs, or their export equivalent, PERNs.While the value of PRNs is the same as PERNs, UK reprocessors can only claim them against material which is actually recycled, as opposed to all the material exported in bales, which includes contamination.

Closed Loop Recycling

Chris Dow, chief executive of Dagenham based plastic bottle recycling firm Closed Loop Recycling, has backed calls for a reform to the PRN system.

In a statement released separately yesterday, Mr Dow said that the government needed to look urgently at reform to the system, in light of the Green Fence initiative in China, adding: The current situation in China and the impact it is having here in the UK, particularly in relation to PERNs, speaks volumes about the inadequacies of our existing legislations.

As it currently stands, British packaging companies are subsidising the export of valuable recyclate which should be going back into British packaging and back on the shelves of British retailers. The results are: less British infrastructure, less British jobs and greater reliance on unreliable international markets. Legislation needs to change to rectify this.