Plastics is one of four materials streams targeted by WRAP and if the organisation decides that such a project would be viable it will conduct a competitive tendering process to award a grant for an automated sorting plant.
The cost of plastic bottle recycling has been estimated at between 250-300 per tonne and WRAP hopes that the part-funding of an automated sorting plant will remove an economic barrier to recycling which is created by manual sorting methods. Some UK plants are using automatic sorting equipment including the Sompting and Hurn MRFs.
The plant would need a throughput capacity of 10,000 tonnes a year which would represent an important step in achieving higher recycling targets. The news that WRAP could part-fund a plant has been welcomed by Andrew Simmons chief executive of plastics recycling organisation Recoup.
Paul Davidson, WRAP’s materials sector manager for plastics, said: “A key part of this strategy will focus on improving the economics of plastic bottle recycling. Currently, high collection and sorting costs make collection of plastics unattractive to local authorities and so collection levels remain relatively low. As part of the decision-making process we would like to hear the views and opinions of people working in the industry in the next few weeks.”
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