Representatives of various sectors of the resource industry met in London today (3 July) to discuss the issue of mixed plastics at the Resource Recovery Forum (RRF) summer conference. Hosted by environmentalist Tony Juniper, the event, ‘Mixed Plastic – What’s Left to Sort?’, entertained views from manufacturers, reprocessors, WRAP and local authorities, amongst others. Topics discussed included: the importance of considering end-of-life options during packaging design; consumer confusion about the different types of plastic; innovations in sorting techniques; infrastructure development; collection methods; end markets for reprocessed material; and exportation.

While the UK produces twice as much mixed plastic packaging waste (comprising both rigid plastics and films) as it does HDPE and PET bottles, collection systems are only just coming on stream and domestic facilities to reprocess the material are scarce, and, as a result, recycling rates are low. Speaking at the conference, Nextek’s Managing Director, Ed Kosior, pointed out that though there’s as much polypropylene (PP) as HDPE and PET in the UK waste stream, only seven per cent of it was recycled last year.

As recycling is technically feasible and consumers clearly want to recycle all plastic waste, many councils are looking to add mixed plastic to their collection lists, however, and the lack of domestic infrastructure has resulted in a corresponding rise in exportation. According to one speaker, Environment Agency Technical Adviser on International Waste Shipments Nigel Homer, exports of scrap plastics have gone from less than 100,000 tonnes per annum in 1999 to close to a million tonnes per annum today. The reprocessors present pointed out that mixed plastic waste is also increasingly finding its way into plastic bottle bales, decreasing their value and complicating their sortation.

The clear message from both WRAP’s Gareth Hollinshead and reprocessors to local authorities, therefore, was to ensure that infrastructure is in place before embarking on collection. Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics, which recently added mixed plastic sorting and reprocessing technology to its bottle recycling plant, encouraged the industry to “walk before we run”. He added that sending mixed plastic to plants that were designed to handle only bottles would compromise their financial viability.

The obvious question that follows on from this of how to stimulate the required infrastructure also received a great deal of attention, with speakers repeatedly calling for more guidance, policy and leadership from government, and the Green Alliance’s Julie Hill suggesting we need “something much more prescriptive than we’ve had” to move to a circular economy. Speakers pointed out that as well as solving the mixed plastics puzzle, a drive to increase domestic infrastructure could help jumpstart the economy with the addition of green jobs.

RRF Chair Steve Read noted, however that: “This isn’t the way the government is looking at moving at the moment – rightly or wrongly.” Ideas from speakers to circumnavigate government inertia included presenting a clear sense of consensus on the issue to persuade government to act and encouraging more business partnerships between large brands and reprocessors. Ed Kosior also noted that domestic reprocessing will not make financial sense until the price of virgin materials increases. This would likely require an end to fossil fuel subsidies as things stand – which of course would require government action.