The ‘PackFlow Refresh 2023: Summary Report’ aims to estimate the amount of packaging placed on the UK market (POM) in 2022 and projects the POM and recycling rate through to 2028.
The reports cover paper and card, glass, aluminium, steel, plastic and wood and has shown that, for most materials, the amount of packaging placed on the market has decreased compared to 2019.
James Skidmore, director of consulting at Valpak, said: “As we approach the full implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR), accurate data and baselines are more important than ever.
“The reports, which are used by UK governments to inform packaging policy, also offer valuable insights into packaging market trends.
“For example, we can see that since 2011, UK domestic recycling of plastic packaging has increased steadily. In 2021, it exceeded the amount of plastic waste exported for the first time. The reports also show us that, since 2019, the amount of paper packaging placed on the market has increased relative to plastic packaging.”
Paper and card
Paper and card POM has reduced compared to Valpak PackFlow reports from 2019 and 2017. It is estimated that paper and card packaging POM in 2022 is 4,843k tonnes, a decrease of 3% from 2019. The total tonnage of paper and card packaging recycled in 2022 is estimated to be 3,934k tonnes.
Overall, UK domestic recycling declined between 2004 and 2010. Increases in target were met through recycling exports – although the overall upward trend in exports has stabilised since 2017.
Export tonnages have fluctuated since 2017 between 500-700k tonnes per quarter, and total paper and card recycling in a range of 850-1,000k tonnes per quarter. Paper and card packaging recycling targets have flatlined.
Glass
Valpak estimated that there were 2,562k tonnes of glass packaging POM in 2022, a decrease of 0.5% from the previous estimate in 2019. The total quantity of UK glass packaging recycled is estimated to be 1,898k tonnes in 2022. In 2022 it is estimated that, 82% of glass collected was recycled in the UK.
Unlike paper and card, UK domestic recycling is the main force behind total glass packaging recycling. As glass POM is down from 2019, recycling rates have been allowed to rise steadily to meet modest increasing annual targets.
Total glass packaging recycling has fluctuated in a range around 350-500k tonnes per quarter over the last five years.
At around 17% of total recycling, on average, the amounts of glass packaging waste exported are small in comparison to UK domestic recycling.
Aluminium
Aluminium packaging placed on the market since 2017 and 2019 has increased. It is estimated that aluminium packaging POM in 2022 is 257k tonnes. Aluminium packaging recycling is estimated to be 157k tonnes in 2022, and it is estimated that 98k tonnes of aluminium packaging was not recycled in 2022.
There has also been a slight upward trend in UK domestic recycling, but it does not appear to have trended since around 2012.
Recycling target increases between 2004 and 2015 were met with increases in UK domestic recycling, but since 2015 this has reversed. UK domestic recycling has been broadly static while the export of waste aluminium packaging has grown rapidly.
In 2018, waste exports exceeded domestic recycling and in 2022, 64 % was exported – mostly to Europe (Germany and the Netherlands).
Steel
It is estimated that steel packaging POM in 2022 is 474k tonnes. Steel packaging recycling is estimated to be 506k tonnes in 2022 and it is estimated that in 2022, 47% of steel packaging collected was recycled in the UK. This is a decrease compared to 2017 and 2019.
Since 2004 to 2022, there has been strong volatility in the amounts of steel packaging waste recycled both domestically and exported. However, there has been no strong indication of any trends.
Plastic
Plastic POM has also fallen since the 2017 and 2019 reports. WRAP and Valpak estimated that UK plastic packaging POM for 2022 is 2,082k tonnes, a decrease of 208k tonnes from 2019. The waste plastic packaging delivered to recyclers as a percentage of POM is estimated to be 62% (1,285kt). The recycled plastic exiting recyclers as a percentage of POM is 44% (925kt).
Increases in recycling targets seem to have caused an upward trend in the total amount of plastic packaging waste recycled from 2004 to 2022.
UK domestic plastic packaging recycling was static at around 50k tonnes per quarter until 2011, the export of plastic packaging has been key in meeting targets.
However, since then, UK recycling of plastic packaging waste has increased steadily and, in 2012, it exceeded the amount of plastic waste exported for the first time.
Wood
It is estimated that the wood packaging POM in 2022 was 1,385k tonnes, a 1% increase from a revised 2019 wood POM figure of 1,383k tonnes. A total of approximately 4.3 million tonnes of waste wood was estimated to be recovered/recycled in 2022.
This means that the volume of wood packaging placed on the UK market was stable between 2019 and 2022, having seen an increase since 2017.
Between 2004 and 2008, an upward trend was seen in total recycling; this peaked at an annual tonnage of 940k tonnes and was followed by a decline that continued to a low point in 2015.
Since this point, accredited wood packaging recycling has continued to increase – aside from a drop in 2020.
Wood recycling saw a dramatic increase in 2018 and then a further increase to 48% in 2020, this was then dropped to 35% in 2021 where it has since stagnated.
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