OPINION: The idea of simplifying recycling collections and ending the postcode lottery determining who recycles what in different parts of the UK is hugely welcome news. It will undoubtedly help improve high-quality material recovery on an industrial scale and, hopefully, lead to the necessary investment to expand and future-proof the country’s recycling infrastructure.
But with the welcome fanfare comes a more sober warning. Improved recycling rules are not a silver bullet. They won’t solve all our waste problems, and valuable material will still go to landfill or for incineration if we don’t think more holistically.
Tackling contamination
If Simpler Recycling improves the recycling rate from 45% to 65% by 2035 as predicted by the government, 35% of waste will still not be recycled. This 35% is residual, hard-to-recycle waste.
This waste typically goes to landfill or for low-level incineration because organic matter on cardboard, plastic or glass renders it contaminated, and therefore unsuitable for segregation, sorting and recycling. It exists primarily because of human behaviour and currently, the UK generates a staggering 14.8 million tonnes of it yearly.
So, do the Simpler Recycling rules go far enough to tackle contamination in recycling? The answer is no, but that doesn’t mean Simple Recycling won’t lead to improvements or that its objectives are flawed. Greater consistency about what, how, and where we recycle is the foundation for positive change in the industry and the key to moving closer to a circular economy.
However, we need to use this focus on recycling to highlight the portion that can’t be recycled. Residual, hard-to-recycle waste needs to be given greater attention and investment if the UK is to maximise materials recovery and reduce its reliance on traditional disposal methods.
The broader hope is that Simpler Recycling rules prompt a collective shift in how the public sees waste and turn the sustained decline in household recycling around. More education about recycling and the need to keep material in circulation for as long as possible should translate into improved habits, such as emptying a half-drunk bottle before putting it in the recycling bin, thereby reducing contamination.
These changes will decrease the volume of residual, hard-to-recycle waste at scale, but they won’t eradicate this waste stream. Organic matter will still be in recycling bins.
This is where innovation can strategically contribute, harnessing new technologies and methods to add value to the waste streams these rules don’t address. Hard-to-recycle waste, AD rejects, and offensive washroom waste, for example, all contain valuable material that can and should be reclaimed for further use. When value is also unlocked from these streams, such as using residual, hard-to-recycle waste to create SRF, which can help energy-intensive industries such as cement manufacturing decarbonise, we start to make even greater strides towards circularity.
So, as preparations for Simpler Recycling unfold, waste producers, handlers, and decision-makers need to be realistic about what those changes will deliver. Greater consistency in recycling delivers widespread benefits, but they alone aren’t enough. Waste innovation has to be part of this picture too. It provides the means to see value where others can’t, processing waste differently, unlocking its forgotten potential and delivering the changes we desperately need to see.
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