Vanden Recycling says EU plastic waste strategy better than British plan

The director of Vanden Recycling, which last year opened its first UK plant in Peterborough, has welcomed the ambitious plastics stragety released by the European Commission this week.

David Wilson, Vanden Recycling UK Director, said: "As an established UK plastic recycling company, we welcome the ambitions of the European Commission to ensure that all plastic packaging is recyclable by 2030.

The company identified the European Commission recognising a public desire for improved environmentally-friendly use of plastic including better and easier recycling of plastic packaging as a strength to the plan.

"We are also pleased that at a time when some are criticising plastics, that the European Commission recognises the sustainable and economic contribution that plastics make to the European economy. It is also good to see that the European Commission wants to create an economically successful plastic recycling industry and will put in measures to support its growth.

"One of the elements of the strategy that we particularly like is the ambition for providing reliable, high-volume supply of recycled plastics to manufacturers. At Vanden Recycling we pride ourselves on already doing this. But we welcome the idea of quality specifications for recycled plastics, making products designed to be recycled or reused as this will help the public to recycle more effectively, and especially quality standards for sorted plastic waste and recycled plastics. All of this will make it much easier to recycle plastics into a high-quality product.

 "We hope that the UK will also adopt this strategy after Brexit as a consistent plastic waste strategy in both UK and EU will be beneficial to a successful plastic recycling industry."