Plastics recyclers urge caution over landfill bans

The comments came in response to calls for a continent-wide ban by Europes local authorities, represented by the European Committee of Regions (CoR).

At a meeting of the CoR in Brussels on Tuesday (October 8) the group said that it would support the introduction of a ban on sending all plastic waste to landfill by 2020.

Support for the measure was raised by councillor Linda Gillham, an independent councillor for Runnymede borough council in Surrey, in response the European Commissions Green Paper on plastic waste published in March – which first mooted the policy (see letsrecycle.com story).

During the meeting, councillor Gillham, said: Most of our citizens have already embraced the recycling message and expect us to do the best with the waste and recycle or reuse it. Banning the dumping of plastic waste in landfill in European is a logical and practical step to demonstrate that we are taking our responsibility seriously in ensuring that we make the most of our precious resources.

Recyclers

But, members of the UKs recycling sector have argued that without working to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place to process an increase in the amount of plastic waste that would need to be handled in the event of a ban, it could have unintended consequences if introduced.

Stuart Foster, chief executive of plastics recycling body Recoup, said: Conceptually a landfill ban is a good idea, but it is a very blunt way of pushing for more resources. If you cant send any waste to landfill we need to ensure that the alternative solutions are there, otherwise it is a non-starter.

We do need to maximise recycling and in the UKs circumstances to see a continued increase in landfill tax would be a counter measure to a ban that might encourage material into recycling but you would need an alternative route for material that cant be recycled.

Meanwhile, the British Plastics Federation has said that while a ban on sending plastic waste to landfill is a positive ambition it has called for the European Commission to properly think it through before considering taking the policy further.

Roger Baynham, chair of the BPFs recycling group, said: A landfill ban is an aspiration – but it could only work as the final part of a long term strategy to reduce the amount of material that is going to landfill. It needs to be the last step in that process.

Clearly what we would need to have in place is an infrastructure to recycle and recover those wastes that would have gone to landfill. To have a ban without a considered process would create all sorts of unintended consequences such as illegal exports to try and circumvent bans.