Newsprint reprocessing
Strongest contenders for the funds for the newsprint reprocessing capacity are thought to be Aylesford Newsprint and Shotton Paper.
WRAP chief executive Jennie Price explained this week that the problem facing newsprint recycling “is universally acknowledged as a lack of UK-based reprocessing activity.”
Speaking at the local government recycling officers conference, Mrs Price said that the WRAP-supported project would help increase capacity by 300,000 tonnes and she praised the waste management sector for pledging substantial amounts of Landfill Tax credits for the grant. She did not reveal the size of the grant – which could be between 25-25m – but said: “If we had taken it all out of our resources we would simply have jeopardised our other projects.”
Mrs Price also gave details of a number of other WRAP activities including development affecting wood, plastics and waste paper.
Wood
For wood, WRAP is looking at a capital grant to help pay for new washing techniques and infrastructure which will help the range oc woods that chipboard manufacturers can use.
Plastics
On the plastics front, talks are underway with Coca Cola about the possibility of reusing used PET bottles in to new products. Mrs Price said that applications for this were already in place in Switzerland the United States.
And, work on plastics packaging is underway with the British Retail Consortium. “They are anxious abut their plastic packaging obligations and have asked us about the use of recycled plastics. We will have a whole programme of action to remove these barriers and major retailers including Tesco, Waitrose and Boots are actively involved in these projects.”
Composting
On composting, Mrs Price said that WRAP was working on standards with the Composting Association and is prepared to “put some serious money and resources behing these standards”.
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