A Welsh packaging company is supporting Recycle Week 2021 by expanding its range of recycled plastic packaging and publishing a whitepaper.
Newtown-based Cambrian Packaging, which supplies plastic bottles, trigger heads and closures to a variety of sectors, has launched its first range of 30% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic products.
The new ZER0 range includes a 100ml tall HDPE Boston bottle, 250ml HDPE Boston and a 500ml PET Boston bottle so far, with more options being added on an ongoing basis. These bottles will all be exempt from next April’s Plastic Packaging Tax.
Lloyd Harvey, R&D and Marketing Manager for Cambrian Packaging, said: “We’ve been offering customers our Ecycle™ range made from 100% recycled HDPE (rHDPE) for a while. Many brands are responding to increasing pressure from consumers to use packaging containing some form of recycled content.
“Recycle Week is calling on people to join the fight against climate change and ‘Step It Up’; this year we have done that by expanding our recycled packaging range, writing a whitepaper explaining the Plastic Packaging Tax and educating brands to explore PCR options. We’ve also sent over 75 pallets of redundant HDPE stock to be recycled back into the supply chain in recent weeks.”
Latest research from Recycle Now has revealed almost 9 out of 10 people now recycle. However, 55% of households put items in the general rubbish bin that can be recycled; including foil, aerosols, and plastic toiletry (shampoo and conditioner bottles), plastic trays and cleaning and bleach bottles. Recycling currently saves 18 million tonnes of CO2 every year, which is the same as taking 12 million cars off the road.
The Plastic Packaging Tax is hoped to encourage more brands to use recycled content and will apply to packaging manufactured in, or imported into, the UK where the plastic used in its manufacture is less than 30% recycled. The rate of the tax will be £200 per metric tonne of plastic packaging.
Mr Harvey said the tax alone would not be enough. He added: “It is vital that we continue to educate consumers around recycling and encourage investment in the necessary infrastructure to achieve recycling targets.
“Despite what we constantly see in the media, plastic is not the problem; it’s one of the most useful materials we have. However, we all need to work together to step up our recycling habits and ensure waste is recycled instead of ending up in landfill or in our oceans and waterways.”
Cambrian Packaging supplies a variety of clients internationally, including brands like Lush, Autosmart, Bob Martin, Ronseal, Kilrock, Bio-D and packaging under contract for WD40, Lakeland and Muc-off.
You can download the Plastic Packaging Tax whitepaper here. To find out more about Recycle Week and see what you can and can’t recycle where you live, visit www.recyclenow.org.uk/RecycleWeek.