Warning over deteriorating quality of plastics

ECO plastics -which has a state-of-the-art bottle recycling facility in Hemswell in Lincolnshire -says that a typical bale arriving at its plant contained 95% plastic bottle as recently as 2008.

But, today it puts the figure at more like 80% or lower which it says means councils receive 40 less for every tonne they collect.

With the number of plastic bottle collections growing year-on-year (260,000 tonnes last year), and councils under increasing budgetry pressure, the company says it expects council losses to exceed 10 million in 2011.

Now, ECO plastics is calling for the UK to get back to basics in a bid to improve the quality of collected plastics and help councils maximise the value of this resource.

Jonathan Short, ECO Plastics managing director, said: Plastic bottles are far and away the most valuable, highest quality plastic recyclate.Our plant can process 300,000 bottles an hour but in recent years we have seen a significant drop in the bottle-content of our baled raw material. The UKs nascent recycling infrastructure is being made to work harder to reach the required level of quality, not least for use in food-grade recycled packaging. Local authorities are missing out on easy money at a time when every penny counts.

Boris Johnsons Recycle for London campaign estimates that London saved 30m through recycling last year, with a target of doubling those savings this year. This will not happen for London or any other authority – unless recycling collections start to focus on quality.

Bottles

Mr Short added that it was important for councils to encourage householders to get as many valuable plastic bottles out of the residual waste stream as possible.

He said: For plastics recycling, the solution is very simple and we can all make a contribution by ensuring that each and every plastic bottle we use is returned into the system. This includes upstairs bottles such as those used for shampoos and cleaning products, as well as those consumed outside of the home. Consumers dont need to scrub these bottles, identify the type of plastic or even remove the lids. Just rinse, empty and get them into the system!

During the past year, bales of plastic arriving at the Hemswell facility contained an average of 8% non-recyclable plastic, with black plastic trays – which ECO plastics claims cannot currently be recycled cost effectively – the biggest offender.

AWS believes that an increase in the number of councils offering a mixed plastics collection service is thought to be the main source of the problem.

Mr Short said: Black plastic trays were not evident in our recyclate three years ago my concern is that the householder is placing trays in the recycling bin whilst bottles are being lost to landfill. The lack of consistent messaging about what can and cannot be recycled has given rise to this situation.

Local authorities offering mixed plastics collections are at the front of the pack and this represents the way in which the industry must ultimately develop, but not just yet. The historic drive for quantity has to stop – we must first maximise the best quality, most valuable resource available to us – its time to get back to basics and ensure that all plastic bottles in the UK are saved from landfill.