The recommendation comes ahead of a meeting of City of York council’s Environment Committee next week (November 23), which is convening to consider methods to promote recycling within the city.
Adding PTT had been seen as a potential option for boosting the recycling of plastic packaging, with a 12 week trial having been one are of the city in 2014 which saw the collection of plastic and cans increase by 21% in trial areas.
There is a great deal of debate within the plastics sector over whether increasing collections of PTT – for which end markets are yet to reach maturity – is a positive move for the UK, with some calling for greater focus on increasing capture rates and quality of more established materials such as bottles.
According to the latest figures by plastics body Recoup 285 councils offered some form of PTT collection in 2014, an increase of around 14 compared to the previous year (see letsrecycle.com story).
Income
But, according to a report compiled by York’s interim director of city and environmental services submitted in advance of the meeting next week, the addition of PTT would likely reduce the income received by York from its contractor Yorwaste for the recyclables, or even incur a disposal cost for the council.
At present, Yorwaste collects recyclables from York’s households via a three-container system with glass, plastic and cans and paper collected separately.
“Whilst physically viable, on financial and environmental grounds this proposal is not recommended as a viable option at this time.”
Interim director of city and environmental services
City of York council
In its report, the council stated: “Th quality of these types of plastic can be poor and plastic can often by contaminated with food. These factors, coupled with the instability of the recycling markets, has meant that it has been very difficult to demonstrate value for money by introducing mixed plastics to the existing kerbside recycling collection.”
“Additional tonnage of plastics would create a saving in landfill tax however, we currently receive a net income of £10.55 per tonne for kerbside collected recyclables free from mixed plastics. The introduction of mixed plastics would put this income at risk and indeed is likely to lead to a cost to the council for the disposal of the mixed plastics.”
The council acknowledged that the market for the material is seen as ‘highly volatile’ with outlets for the material still yet to become widespread.
The report added: “Discussion will be needed with Yorwaste to ascertain the current market position and viability of adding mixed plastics which is highly volatile and has seen dramatic drops in prices over the summer along with many other recycling commodities.”
Market
Despite recommending that the PTT are not added to the council’s collection system at present, the council has proposed to monitor the future market for the material.
“Whilst physically viable, on financial and environmental grounds this proposal is not recommended as a viable option at this time; however, it is proposed that officers to continue to monitor the market and consult with Yorwaste to inform any future decision on the practicality of pursuing mixed plastic collection should it become viable.”
Elsewhere in the report the council has also looked at the potential to increase the number of properties using wheeled bins to present residual waste, while the council has also rejected a potential move towards a commingled recycling collection system.
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