Market perception of recycled plastics is major barrier

Research carried out by Eunomia Research & Consulting on behalf of WRAP aimed to identify specific quality standards that discriminate against recycled plastics and to investigate other factors that may adversely influence their specification and use.

The report, Standards and specifications affecting plastics recycling in the UK, highlighted priority areas to be addressed in the plastics recycling sector. These include developing marketing and awareness raising initiatives to counter negative market perceptions, working with standards bodies to resolve discriminatory standards that favour virgin material and assisting recyclers to meet performance-based standards.

Commenting on the findings of the report, WRAP's material sector manager for plastics, Paul Davidson, said: “While identifying areas where modifications to a standard could lead to significant market opportunities, such as increasing the use of recyclate in the manufacture of refuse sacks, the most challenging finding in this report is that the market barriers affecting recycled plastics may have far more to do with market perception than with discriminating standards.”

Aside from price, which was singled out by most respondents in the report as the most important variable affecting the acceptance of recycled plastics, other factors included testing capacity and regimes and consistency of quality and supply.

Where standards do come into play, they affect small and large companies in different ways. While larger recyclers are more likely to be influenced by specific standards, particularly when developing new products and markets, the report concludes that they are better equipped to deal with the problem than smaller companies who may lack the necessary financial and personnel resources.

Stress cracking
A second report on plastics Environmental stress cracking – A baseline study of available recycled materials for land drainage products, was also released by WRAP today. It was commissioned to investigate the environmental stress cracking resistance of a number of currently available grades of recycled materials and typical recycled blends which could be used in the manufacture of land drainage pipes.

Carried out by Delleve Plastics Ltd in collaboration with Aston University, the work was tailored to investigate whether the recycled materials could perform satisfactorily in both land drainage and other applications.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the plastic reports, visit the WRAP website.