UK RECYCLING INDUSTRY
Prices plunge for packaging recovery notes / Better technology needed to boost volumes
Industry research has highlighted the need for improved technology if the UK is to meet its recycling targets. The call came against the background of prices for plastic packaging recovery notes plunging to GBP 3.75/t, a fall of 70% over the last six months and barely one-tenth of the price of GBP 35/t prevalent at this time last year.
The fall in the price of PRNs has been due to oversupply in the market, in part caused by the UK´s packaging recycling targets not being raised this year. This has meant that larger buyers of the notes have not had to meet greater obligations and have been able to delay their purchases while prices have fallen. The market has also been unsettled by the government´s revision of the 2002 plastics recycling figures from 395,208 t down to 330,608 t, although this figure remains a provisional total.
A new report, “Plastics in the UK economy” prepared by Waste Watch (GB-London SE1 2TH; www.wastewatch.org.uk) says technologies need to be developed further in terms of handling plastics after shredding if efficient recycling from cars and electronic equipment is to be achieved. If the technical challenge is met, it would provide access to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of shredded plastics for new uses, it is claimed.
The report has been prepared in conjunction with Recoup (GB-Peterborough PE2 7WH; www.recoup.org), the UK´s technical centre for post-consumer plastics waste, and Valuplast (GB-London EC2A 3JE; www.bpf.co.uk), the not-for-profit organisation that represents the UK plastics packaging industry. It says kerbside collections provide the best value-for-money method for increasing the recycling of plastic bottles, which totalled only 18,000 t in 2002 despite 570,000 t of bottle and tops entering the market. There is also more scope for maximising the recycling of plastic packaging from commercial and industrial sources, although 37% of the total was collected from this sector last year.
Waste Watch says the UK government needs encouragement to buy recycled materials to help develop new markets in the construction industry. Also, it says the landfill tax should be increased to make the recycling of polymers more cost-effective.
The fall in the price of PRNs has been due to oversupply in the market, in part caused by the UK´s packaging recycling targets not being raised this year. This has meant that larger buyers of the notes have not had to meet greater obligations and have been able to delay their purchases while prices have fallen. The market has also been unsettled by the government´s revision of the 2002 plastics recycling figures from 395,208 t down to 330,608 t, although this figure remains a provisional total.
A new report, “Plastics in the UK economy” prepared by Waste Watch (GB-London SE1 2TH; www.wastewatch.org.uk) says technologies need to be developed further in terms of handling plastics after shredding if efficient recycling from cars and electronic equipment is to be achieved. If the technical challenge is met, it would provide access to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of shredded plastics for new uses, it is claimed.
The report has been prepared in conjunction with Recoup (GB-Peterborough PE2 7WH; www.recoup.org), the UK´s technical centre for post-consumer plastics waste, and Valuplast (GB-London EC2A 3JE; www.bpf.co.uk), the not-for-profit organisation that represents the UK plastics packaging industry. It says kerbside collections provide the best value-for-money method for increasing the recycling of plastic bottles, which totalled only 18,000 t in 2002 despite 570,000 t of bottle and tops entering the market. There is also more scope for maximising the recycling of plastic packaging from commercial and industrial sources, although 37% of the total was collected from this sector last year.
Waste Watch says the UK government needs encouragement to buy recycled materials to help develop new markets in the construction industry. Also, it says the landfill tax should be increased to make the recycling of polymers more cost-effective.
28.08.2003 Plasteurope.com [14253]
Published on 28.08.2003