The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is seeking suggestions from industry to enable biodegradable bags to be used more widely by reducing their environmental impacts and improving plastics sorting techniques.
A tender issued by the Department today (November 15) seeks innovative approaches from businesses to allow biodegradable bags to be used more widely. The bags will be exempt under the proposed levy on single use plastic bags, announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in September (see letsrecycle.com story).
The move appears to suggest that Defra will move ahead with its plan to incentivise the use of biodegradable bags, despite concerns from plastics recyclers that this could undermine film recycling due to the difficulty in separating biodegradable and non-biodegradable bags, and the structural differences of the polymers.
Others have argued that allowing retailers to give them away for free would provide a conflicting message to consumers over waste reduction.
In its tender document, Defra claimed that biodegradable bags currently do not show a good enough performance environmentally over their life time, and is seeking a means of making their design, manufacturer, separation and recycling more sustainable.
Challenge
The Department has also recognised the challenge for recyclers to separate the different polymer bags at the end of life, and has identified this as a key area for innovation.
In particular, Defra is focusing on ideas for quicker degradation of bags in different natural environmental conditions and in management of these products in the waste stream.
Defra said: In 2012, over seven billion carrier bags were issued by supermarkets in England. Many of these ended up in landfill or littered in the streets or rivers. Therefore on September 14, the government announced its intention to introduce a 5p charge on thin-gauge, single-use plastic bags in autumn 2015 to decrease the numbers distributed. We want to prevent waste in the first place, so are encouraging consumers to re-use their bags, as much as is safely possible, before recycling them.
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For those occasions when consumers forget to take their re-usable bags with them, we would like to incentivise the use of biodegradable bags. Moreover, the correct disposal of all types of bag should be encouraged. Current bags designed and labelled as biodegradable still dont show a good enough performance over their lifecycle. We are interested in solutions and/or modifications from any sector that will enable the improvement of carrier bag manufacture, use, collection, separation, recycling and end-of-life processing.
Defra has asked for proposed solutions to be submitted by a December 13 deadline.
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