Mixed plastics have so far not been collected for recycling in the UK in large quantities although plastic bottles are sought after by the recycling industry. Now the WRAP report suggests that within certain parameters it may make economic sense to collect mixed plastics.
Now the WRAP study concludes that in a specific circumstances it is possible to “affordably source 50,000 tonnes of mixed plastics from households.” To achieve this the study says that there will need to be a marginal positive value to the plastics and that the central handling infrastructure needs to be “relatively large” with sites handling up to 10,000 tonnes per annum. Using savings made from landfill costs, the report exptrapolates that nationally this could save 47.5 million per year by 2009.
Market
The report, “A Study to Identify Methods of Enhancing Local Authority Collection of Plastics” stated: “We believe that if a sustainable market was identified, there would be councils willing to pilot collection programmes to achieve a 50kt target.”
Work will now go into locating areas where material could be generated. “Evidence indicates that there would be considerable interest from councils in developing mixed plastics recycling systems as part of a wider recycling programme once markets are available. Detailed work to identify and prioritise those council areas with suitable/potential infrastructure and resources to take forward mixed plastics collection.”
Currently 88.5% of household plastic waste is landfilled with disposal costs at an estimated 37.50 per tonne. While the study finds “There is evidence of demand from councils and households to offer a recyclables collection service that includes mixed plastics”, it finds there is little scope to do this. “There is very limited market availability for plastic; development opportunities are unclear to potential collectors.”
The report also argues that there could be potentially problematic impacts on the existing recyclables collection service and warns that any collection of mixed plastics should not hamper bottle collections..
Low density
The report indicates that due to its low bulk density mixed plastics could cost up to 300 per tonne to recycle as part of a non-integrated collection scheme.
One of the key ideas the report introduces is an integrated system kerbside collection. The two ideas offered are a dual compartment refuse collection vehicle or the collection of recyclables and refuse in alternate weeks. The main advantage of this approach is that it will not require any additional vehicle rounds on top of those already carried out.
A second suggestion is to extract the mixed plastics from the residual waste stream. This idea is seen to have three main advantages: “There would be no additional collection costs, it would provide a 100% capture rate and there would be only marginal extra costs within the MBT process.”
The report estimates that adding an automated plastics sorting system with dedicated plastics baling would cost 350,000 with a capability of sorting 3-4 tonnes an hour of rigid containers.
The full report can be seen at http://www.wrap.org.uk/reports.asp#plastices
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