Request
Request for information about how much of the plastic waste sent to NLWA for recycling gets sent out of the country?
Response
REF: Request for information about how much of the plastic waste sent to NLWA for recycling gets sent out of the country?
Thank you for your request of 8 June 2021 regarding the above. This request is being handled under the Environmental Information Regulations (EiR) 2004 and has been allocated the reference number 2021-120[1].
NLWA with its recycling contractor, Biffa, ensures that 100% of recycled plastic – generated by two million residents in the London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest – is processed in the UK. Based upon the prior year, our latest destination data shows that all of the plastic bottles and other plastics sent to NLWA were reprocessed in the UK for the years ended March 2020 and March 2021. Please see table 1f in the Services Update report which was presented to the Authority meeting last week (24 June 2021) and which is publicly available on our website here:
https://www.nlwa.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021-06/07%20Services%20Update.pdf
NLWA also issued a statement in the light of a recent Greenpeace report entitled ‘Trashed’, on the consequences of UK plastic waste ending up in countries with insufficient recycling infrastructure. NLWA called on the UK Government to urgently invest in building the UK’s own recycling capacity as well as fast track legislation to ensure businesses use recycled content in their products. You can read our press statement dated 18 May 2021 here:
I trust this response answers your question, but if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please reply to this email or submit a complaint via our website complaints page at: https://www.nlwa.gov.uk/enquiry-form
Your request should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response.
If you are still not satisfied, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113
Yours sincerely,
[1] Given the nature of our activities and the fact that environmental information is interpreted quite broadly we now generally answer information requests under the Environmental Information Regulations rather than the Freedom of Information Act. Further detail is available at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/environmental_information.aspx
