The service, which councils with existing Recresco bring bank sites can introduce immediately, means that in addition to plastic bottles, plastic containers such as margarine tubs, yogurt pots, food trays and drink cups can also be collected for reprocessing.
Polymer types now covered by the scheme include PET, HDPE, Polypropylene and Polystyrene. Expanded Polystyrene is not accepted.
Recresco said the move came in the wake of councils receiving increased pressure from residents to recycle a wider scope of plastics and divert more waste from landfill.
WRAP – the Waste and Resources Action Programme – is also trying to drive mixed plastics recycling in the UK, with a target to help develop 500,000 tonnes of domestic reprocessing capacity for the material by 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesman for Recresco said: “There is an ever increasing demand to collect an ever increasing range of plastic and this one way for councils to be able to do that. Local authorities with existing sites can now cover a wider range and it's certainly an option for councils without the facilities in place.”
Reprocessor
Under Recresco's service, plastics are collected by vehicles using a vacuum-based system capable of collecting four tonnes of plastic in a single load, before being sent to an established reprocessor in the UK, or exported abroad, as long as the company has been licensed to do so by the Environment Agency.
While not that many firms currently reprocess mixed plastics in the UK, the company said that it preferred not to make the names of the reprocessors it would send its material to public at this time.
The company spokesman added that the collections could benefit the emerging plastic recycling infrastructure by catering for a wider range of mixed plastics.
He said: “Eight years ago it was just baled and sent to China and now it can stay this country. Plastics are staying more and more in the UK or finishing up in production in the UK.”
The introduction of mixed plastics will cost no extra for councils using the service. However, Recresco said that participating councils would need to take into account the knock-on effect of increased usage in terms of bank numbers, size and/or frequency of collection from bring bank sites.
Recresco – which recently won a ‘landmark' £100 million deal to provide cullet to Quinn Glass (see letsrecycle.com story) – has been providing a plastic bottle collection and recycling service for local authorities for almost a decade.
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