The UK lacks the recycling infrastructure to cope with flexible plastics – such as crisp packets, bubble wrap, and bread bags – once kerbside collections become mandatory in 2027, North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has warned.
This is despite projections that by 2030 only about 10% or 200,000 tonnes of the 1.7 million tonnes of flexible plastics placed on the UK market each year will be captured from households.
Without a significant reduction in the use of flexible plastics, this unsustainable waste stream will continue to grow. And without urgent investment in recycling infrastructure, even the system needed to recycle just a fraction of this waste could collapse once collections become mandatory – forcing stockpiling in warehouses or increased shipping abroad.
Over many years, NLWA has raised concerns about the proliferation of flexible plastics. Its latest call for government and business action comes after the publication earlier this month of The Flexible Plastic Fund’s The future of recycling flexible plastic packaging in the UK, which reported the findings of a three-year pilot project.
NLWA chair, Cllr Clyde Loakes, said: “Unless the production of flexible plastics is greatly reduced in tandem with investment in infrastructure, much of the flexible plastic collected from people’s homes will end up in a warehouse or on a container ship somewhere. The government and business must step up to prevent disillusionment among the public, which may end up negatively impacting their overall recycling efforts.
“While recycling is vital, we must remember that it is the reduction of unsustainable and unnecessary packaging that must always be the priority. Mandatory recycling collections should not give producers a green light to flood the market with more flexible plastics. They must redesign packaging, cut volumes, and move to more sustainable alternatives.”
Furthermore, NLWA urged the government to intervene with at least two measures to incentivise investment to process flexible plastics and to increase market demand for those recycled materials. First, by mandating higher proportions of recycled content in new products to stimulate increased market demand. And second, by reforming the Plastic Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) system, which currently favours exports rather than domestic processing for recycling.
Cllr Loakes also noted that the pilot, which was run across ten local authorities, had little representation from densely populated areas with a high proportion of flats and shared housing. These are areas that will inevitably face additional challenges and costs when implementing the new requirement to collect flexible plastics from communal bins, houses of multiple occupancy, and flats above shops.
Cllr Loakes said: “Densely populated urban areas face additional challenges in rolling-out new recycling services. For instance, contamination is often worse in communal recycling bins; and high population turnover in these areas often impacts reliable participation.
“We are concerned that the Flexible Plastic Fund’s report does not accurately represent these challenges and may overestimate the ability of dense urban areas to recycle flexible plastic.”
The report also suggests that a successful flexible plastic collection service may require the distribution of dedicated bags to residents for the separation of this material.
“Government must support already stretched local authorities with extra funding to cover the additional costs,” Cllr Loakes said.
