Film highlights benefits of closed loop recycling

The three-minute film was commissioned by waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services, plastics recycling firm Closed Loop, retail giant Marks & Spencer (M&S) and the American rewards-based recycling scheme RecycleBank.

The video tracks the journey of the milk bottle from the store to kerbside recycling box, through to its reprocessing into plastic flake – which can be used to create more milk bottles.

Promotion of the closed loop recycling process comes in the wake of a survey carried out by research firm TNS on behalf of the four firms which found that 86% of consumers have faith that their products are recycled into new items.

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop Recycling, said: “Great Britain is a nation of ‘Great Recyclers' and we have some recycling facilities that are the envy of the world. It's fantastic that we can now put a plastic milk bottle in the recycling bin, knowing it can be recycled into a brand new milk bottle again.

“But the issue we now face is how to make the most of these ‘closed loop recycling' facilities. Only 45% of plastic bottles in the UK are actually collected for recycling, so there is certainly room for households to up the ante. Put simply, more recyclable plastics in means more recycled products out.”

Short film

The short film takes into account the roll of the retailer, Veolia as collection contractor, RecycleBank as rewarding recycling and Closed Loop in reprocessing the bottles into a plastic flake.

Commenting on the video, Dr Helene Roberts, head of packaging at Marks & Spencer, said: “This video is a great way for everyone to see the sustainable lifecycle of an M&S milk bottle. All of our milk bottles are made from at least 10% of recycled plastic.

“We're committed to making even more of our packaging with recycled content and to do this we need more materials at a higher quality. That's why as part of Plan A, our sustainability programme, we've made over 90% of our packaging recyclable and we're working with local authorities to help collect even more packaging materials to close the recycling loop.”

Paul Levett, deputy chief executive of Veolia, added: “This film explains what happens to a milk bottle from the Your M&S store shelf to the doorstep and back again. It's fun to watch, and gets across the recycling message in a clear way which is just what consumers want. The results demonstrate what can be achieved when leading players get together to achieve a common goal.”

Highlighting the benefits of incentive-based recycling, Sue Igoe, UK managing director of RecycleBank, said: “The use of incentives to reward people for recycling and divert waste from landfill has worked very successfully in the UK. This short film helps to demonstrate what an enormous benefit can be driven by rewarding green behaviours.”