New initiative launched to recycle the UK’s plastic marine waste

An initiative has been launched that will see waste plastic being collected from the sea surrounding the UK and being recycled at Dagenham-based Closed Loop Recycling for re-use in new packaging.

The initiative, which is supported by sustainable household and personal care products manufacturer, Ecover, has led to the company running trials with Closed Loop for a new range of packaging using an entirely new form of fully sustainable and recyclable plastic in 2014 made from 100 percent sugarcane and the recovered marine plastic waste fished from the sea.

“It’s great that a large producer such as Ecover is taking such a futuristic view on packaging, showing true commitment to designing on shelf product with recycling in mind,” said Closed Loop Recycling CEO, Chris Dow.

Both Closed Loop Recycling and Ecover are supporting the Waste Free Oceans (WFO) initiative, set up by the European Plastics Converters, which aims to reduce floating marine debris on Europe’s coastlines, as well as sending an important anti-litter message to consumers, highlighting the importance of recycling and the value of used plastic as a resource.

“The Waste Free Oceans initiative is not simply about cleaning up our oceans of unwanted litter, which is of course important in itself environmentally.  It’s about the industry taking responsibility for plastic litter and educating people to take responsibility for their own waste and recycle as much of it as possible, in the knowledge that recyclers like us can maximise this resource and enable it to re-used in new food and drink packaging, thus reducing our reliance on oil-rich virgin materials,” continued Dow.

Ecover’s Chief Executive, Philip Malmberg, commented: “As manufacturers we’ve got to take responsibility for sustainability very seriously – to take real action on climate change and the damage done by our over-reliance on fossil fuels, creating ‘green’ products that deliver more than a nod to sustainability.”