The minister made the revelation at the Plastics 2020 reception in Westminster this afternoon, hosted by the Packaging and Films Association, British Plastics Federation and Plastics Europe.
Addressing plastics industry delegates including recyclers and manufacturers Mr Stewart said: “There are concerns that I have picked up on around packaging targets. We have a consultation coming and it is needed. We are going to consult on revising the plastic packaging targets.”
Offering further detail following Mr Stewart’s announcement, a Defra spokesman told letsrecycle.com that the consultation would present a range of proposals for the future level of the plastic recycling target, and may be launched before the end of 2015.
The government has already asked for views on whether targets should be altered after research suggested that level of recycling of plastic packaging is higher than previously thought (see letsrecycle.com story)
The plastics packaging target, which stands at 52% for 2016, is set to rise to 57% for 2017 despite concerns raised in the ‘Plastic Flow 2014’ report that the baseline data used by Defra to measure the UK’s progress to EU packaging targets is incorrect.
Target
Some within the plastics packaging sector have argued that the target, which was originally set in December 2011, will be unachievable in 2017, with the packaging sector already showing signs that it is struggling to secure enough material to comfortably meet the goal.
In recent months packaging recovery notes (PRNs) have shot up in price to as much as £75-per-tonne as packaging producers sought to secure sufficient volumes of material to meet their packaging recycling targets.
Consistency
Elsewhere the minister also reiterated his desire to see collections of recyclable materials and waste to be carried out in a more consistent manner by councils.
He said: “We are very focused on consistency of collection. There are over 300 collection systems for recycling. We want to aim for, let us say six, instead. We are working closely with councils and with WRAP and we would love to include you. We want to identify where the best practice lies.
“I would like to see what suggestions you have on bottles, on trays, on films and make sure it is not some geeky solution but it is actually communicated to the public.”
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