However, at Peterborough’s Kingsgate Conference Centre – the venue for Recoup’s annual conference last week (29 September) – this was not entirely the case.
The sector faces challenges, of course. Not least the uncertainty arising from the UK’s imminent departure from the EU – but there are very few business sectors where this is not the case.
Mike Baxter, the director of external affairs for one of the UK’s largest plastic reprocessors and manufacturers – BPI – is a staunch defender of the plastics industry, and pulled no punches in his assessment of reports of falling oil prices crippling plastics recyclers. Mr Baxter also alluded to reports of major investment in the sector and suggested that these are definite signs of life in the industry.
The conference underscored that household collections remain a key concern for an industry that is grappling with a need for quality feedstock. This was highlighted by Recoup chief executive Stuart Foster, who revealed the data from Recoup’s latest household collection survey. The survey indicated that despite around 499,625 tonnes of plastic packaging having been collected for recycling from households in 2015 – an estimated 20 million plastic bottles per day – plastic recycling rates are showing signs of stagnation, echoing a wider ‘green fatigue’ in recycling progress.
PIRAP
But, work is being done to improve this. The Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan (PIRAP) is one particular initiative. Originally launched last summer, the plan aims to establish a range of joined-up actions across the plastics supply chain aimed at boosting recycling. Further progress is expected on this later on in 2016 – with more focus on joined up messaging and consistency of collections likely to be a feature.
Consistency on packaging materials is the demand from local authorities, and Kevin Vyse, packaging technologist at retail giant Marks & Spencer offered some hope that this may not be too far on the horizon – revealing to the conference that the retailer is having tentative discussions about reducing its plastic packaging to just one polymer type.
While these challenges lie ahead, it is likely to be an uncertain future for the plastics recycling sector. This morning saw major volatility in global stock markets – and with plastics reprocessing having shown it is acutely susceptible to commodity price shifts, this will not be welcome news. But there is work going on across the supply chain to help create a more resilient plastics recycling industry, and this is worthy of support.
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