Plastic target concerns linger despite Defra summit

The hour-and-a-half meeting, held at Defra's headquarters in central London at the end of last month (March 31), brought together 40 representatives from across the plastics recycling supply chain to consider issues currently facing the sector.

Attendees included trade bodies, plastics reprocessors, plastics reprocessors and supermarket chains. And, speaking to letsrecycle.com, plastics recycling trade body Recoup, plastics recycling lobby group the Plastics 2020 Challenge and Linpac Recycling said they welcomed the summit but identified areas requiring further scrutiny from the government in order to reach its future goals.

Among the most pressing issues outlined at the event was the proposed 56.9% plastic packaging recycling target by 2020 included in the consultation on the revised Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Key figures in the plastics sector had been quick to question whether the 56.9% goal was achievable in the days after the consultation was launched (see letsrecycle.com story). And, industry bodies said that they thought it was these concerns that had led to the minister calling for the talks.

Opening the discussion, Hilary Benn said: “[The consultation] sets out a picture of where we could be in ten years' time. It contains ambitious targets. I know that some of you have concerns about their achievability.

“I understand a lot will need to happen between then and now to get us nearer our ambition – regardless of whether we are aiming for 50%, 53, 55 or 57% recycling. I want us to consider what the opportunities and the obstacles are in getting there, and more fundamentally what each of us can do to get there.”

Issues discussed at the event included roadblocks to achieving targets, quality issues, collection systems, the need for developing markets and the existing plastics recycling infrastructure.

“Biggest problem”

Commenting on the event, Stuart Foster, project manager at recycling organisation Recoup, explained that, while the meeting was “the right step” by the government, it would still require a concentrated effort from both the sector and the government to achieve the high target outlined in the consultation document.

He said that, while plastic bottles would continue to be recycled, achieving the target would be dependent on reaching into areas of the plastic waste chain beyond plastic bottles.

Mr Foster said: “We could spend days discussing this subject and it warrants it but being realistic they had all the right people in the room and with one and a half hours to solve what is going to be the biggest problem, I think, for recycling as a whole.

“Because now we are managing paper, plastic bottle recycling, glass, green waste and food waste is being recovered and the only thing left is mixed plastics and whether we want to recycle much as we can.”

And, he added that more mixed plastic collection, sorting and reprocessing capacity in the UK would need to be developed otherwise the proposed goal would be unobtainable.

Mr Foster added: “I think it is a question of how quickly the infrastructure will develop, there is a long way to go and a lot of infrastructure to go in and the industry isn't going to be able to achieve these goals without this being sorted.”

Meeting

And, while other plastic sector representatives also welcomed the opportunity to meet with the minister, the main theme of meeting lingered on the feasibility of the proposed targets.

Allen Dalle of West Yorkshire-based Linpac Recycling told letsrecycle.com: “What we saw at the meeting is that there is a general consensus that the targets are too high and because they are as high as they are they will have an impact which is not to the benefit of the industry in general.

“The strong message that we see from people is there is absolutely no way of meeting the targets,” he added.

Jan-Erik Johansson of the Plastics 2020 Challenge remained positive about the meeting and claimed that Mr Benn had been “brave” in his decision to discuss the proposed targets, among other issues, with industry heads face-to-face.

Mr Johansson said: “Overall, I think it was a worthwhile event. I had a good feeling after leaving it and I felt that the Secretary of State was very open and when he closed the summit he demonstrated he had picked up a number of our concerns.”

Furthermore, Mr Johansson said that the sector would have to work closely with the government to ensure that the goals could be achieved.

He said: “We have also floated the idea of working in partnership – that was one of the founding commitments of the Plastics 2020 Challenge, which was launched almost a year ago, as we said by working in partnership we have a bigger chance to double our recycling rate.”

He added that, despite the upcoming General Election, he did not foresee the plastics recycling sector's concerns being sidetracked by a potential change in government due to the pressing nature of the industry concerns.