No silver bullet for plastics recycling
Philip Law, Director-General of the British Plastics Federation, discusses why the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s newest initiative cannot be seen as a ‘silver bullet’ for the issues surrounding plastics recycling, as well as why the industry should “keep calm and carry on” in the changeable political environment.
As you may have already read at the beginning of this issue, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched an award to the value of $2M (approx. £1.54 GBP) for Innovation in plastics recycling to address what they described as “the 30 percent of plastics that can’t be recycled”. Whilst this is certainly to be welcomed and, as an industry, we are eager to absorb genuine advances in technology, we have to place this initiative in context.
In our view, all plastic is recyclable and its lightweight and resource efficiency saves energy and significantly reduces CO2 emissions. Plastics recycling has grown fast in recent years with some 57 percent of plastic bottles now being collected for recycling and well over one million PVC window frames being recycled. Of course, there are significant challenges impeding progress, including logistical difficulties such as inconsistent collection between local authorities and global market factors. But an assumption which lays behind the Ellen MacArthur initiative is that, as one journalist put it to me, that the industry itself has been doing itself very little about this. “How”, she said, “is so much plastic still not being recycled in this day and age?”
I told her that the issue is by no means as simple as she thinks and that “recycling” is a combination, currently, of industry effort, consumer engagement and Government intervention at both local and central level and by “industry” I mean all the parties along the supply chain who are involved in the presentation of a product to the consumer. For recycling to move forward all parties must be working together with one aim. We have had plastics recyclers in the UK for many decades and indeed some of the current members of the BPF’s Recyclers Group date back to the 1940s.
The Recycling Group itself has been active since the 1980s and today embraces some 40 highly responsible recyclers. As an industry we have had award systems which have embraced recycling. Additionally, for two years the BPF has been coordinating an organisation called PIRAP, the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Programme, which bring together a large number of plastics industry players, brand owners and retailers. It has been endorsed by Defra. Its single objective is to increase the recycling rate for plastics packaging and it has working groups already in existence focusing on bottle recycling and the issue of black trays.
The Ellen MacArthur initiative is certainly well received but we all have to be clear that no single project is likely to produce a silver bullet to resolve the whole issue. Only full and transparent cooperation is likely to get anywhere near the Holy Grail.
The political environment has been nothing less than a hair- raising roller coaster in recent weeks. A surprise General Election was announced in the UK, indiscretions about a dinner with Mrs May released by high level Commission officials and a President, pretty much behind ‘the European project’, was elected in France. How do we react? Well, the old wartime adage springs to mind, ”Keep calm and carry on”, focusing on the search for business opportunities. The BPF is presenting one such opportunity to the industry and that is participation in the Plastimagen trade fair in Mexico City in on November 7-10 2017. There will be 14 international pavilions spread over for halls and over 30,000 visitors are expected. Contact Justyna Elliott at the BPF on jelliott@bpf.co.uk for more information.