Not enough plastic recycling plants in the UK

UK’s plastics recycling industry will remain murky unless Government steps in to mend market

The UK is presently nowhere near ready to create the number of recycling plants required should the Government decide that all plastic waste must now be recycled on home soil. The country will therefore need to continue to export its plastic waste overseas and/or incinerate it in the near to mid future, while recycling capacity and the market for plastics is built up in the UK.

The Government also needs to urgently assess the current PRN system (Packaging Recovery Note System) which enables exporters to gain up to 50% more PRNs for exporting mixed waste, placing UK reprocessors at a business-critical disadvantage.

The comments by managing director James Piper come after an investigation by Sky News on Wednesday 24 January, which provided shocking evidence on the impact of exported British-collected plastics on countries such as China, Thailand and Poland. The UK sends 494,000 tonnes of plastic to China for recycling. At the start of this year China banned all contaminated plastic recycling.

Financial and market incentives required

We also believe UK householders will have to become better at sorting plastic for recycling, to ensure recyclers receive the right levels of recyclable plastic materials. We are calling on the Government to ensure a uniform system for the collection of domestic recycling across the UK.