Hot on the tails of the government's Advisory Committee on Packaging (see letsrecycle.com story), the Waste and Resources Action Programme has commissioned a study into the impact of the UK's increasing exports of materials for recycling.
 Waste plastics exports have soared in recent years (Defra data – n.b. 2005 figure is annualised from first three quarters) |
WRAP's study, being carried out by GHK Consulting with support from Recoup, specifically focuses on plastics. This will include waste plastics from commercial and industrial sources and packaging from the household waste stream as well as potential new sources from the recycling of waste electronics and vehicles.
By April this year, WRAP hopes to have a better idea of how the export of plastics from the UK may shape up in the next 10 years, regarding various export destinations and plastic types. The study will look at both global demand for and supply of waste plastics as well as the situation in the UK.
Demand
Exports of plastics packaging waste have more than doubled since 2001, pushed largely by strong demand for materials in the Far East. Meanwhile, the recycling of plastics at home in the UK has actually dipped (see graph, above right).
Paul Davidson, WRAP's material sector manager for plastic, said: “The quantity of waste plastic recovered in the UK has risen in the last five years and at the same time, the proportion exported for recycling has increased dramatically.
“As a result the UK has become reliant on the export market to meet its plastic obligations and as the rising export trend looks set to continue, a better understanding of the global market dynamics is imperative,” he added.
According to Defra figures in the first half of 2004, 89,613 tonnes of plastic were recycled while 69,287 tonnes were shipped abroad. In 2005 the same six month period saw the amount of plastic staying in the country drop very slightly to 89,578 tonnes but 107,946 tonnes were shipped abroad.
Fears
The majority of the exported plastic is currently sent to China where a massive demand for the material drives prices much higher than UK reprocessors offer. But there are fears that if the Chinese market slows down or stops coming to the UK, the country would not have the capacity to deal with all collected plastics.
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The types of plastics in WRAP's study will include polyethylene film used in pallet shrink wrap, sacks and liners, PE and polypropylene (PP) crates and trays, and expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging. The research will also look at polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) drink bottles and plastics from waste electronics and vehicles.
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