UK RECYCLING
John Lewis commits all plastic packaging for recycling in UK / Contract with Centriforce strengthens closed loop waste plastics strategy
UK retail major John Lewis Partnership (www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk) has committed to recycling all its plastic packaging waste in the UK through a contract with UK recycler Centriforce Products (Liverpool; www.centriforce.com). Centriforce will collect more than 3,000 t/y of plastics waste from John Lewis distribution centres across the UK and bring the waste to its Liverpool manufacturing centre.
John Lewis, which owns department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, is also exploring opportunities to reuse Centriforce products such as plastic planks, boards and sheeting in its new store construction programme to achieve a "closed loop" in its plastics waste stream.
Centriforce said the contract follows an investment in its mixed plastics sorting line. The company has the capacity to recycle more than 20,000 t/y of plastics waste to produce plastic sheets, boards and profiles, which offer an alternative to wood and traditional materials.
Mike Walters, recycling and waste operations manager for John Lewis, said: "We have declared our aspiration to achieve zero waste to landfill with a diversion target of 95% by the end of 2013. Plastics waste plays an important role in that, but even more exciting is the possibility that it can be recycled into products we can use again."
John Lewis’ decision to commit all its plastic packaging waste for recycling in the UK was welcomed by the British Plastics Federation's (BPF, London / UK; www.bpf.co.uk) Recycling Group (BPFRG, www.bpf.co.uk/recycling/default.aspx), which claims that the government’s system for recycling packaging waste incentivises exports at the expense of local recycling – see Plasteurope.com of 01.02.2013.
Roger Baynham, BPFRG chairman, said the agreement with Centriforce “is evidence of the sort of far-sighted initiative which is required by brand owners and retailers if the UK is not only to achieve its packaging recycling target but to create sustainable resource-efficient low carbon manufacturing. For too long the UK and indeed the world has been too reliant on Asian markets for plastic waste”.
John Lewis, which owns department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, is also exploring opportunities to reuse Centriforce products such as plastic planks, boards and sheeting in its new store construction programme to achieve a "closed loop" in its plastics waste stream.
Centriforce said the contract follows an investment in its mixed plastics sorting line. The company has the capacity to recycle more than 20,000 t/y of plastics waste to produce plastic sheets, boards and profiles, which offer an alternative to wood and traditional materials.
Mike Walters, recycling and waste operations manager for John Lewis, said: "We have declared our aspiration to achieve zero waste to landfill with a diversion target of 95% by the end of 2013. Plastics waste plays an important role in that, but even more exciting is the possibility that it can be recycled into products we can use again."
John Lewis’ decision to commit all its plastic packaging waste for recycling in the UK was welcomed by the British Plastics Federation's (BPF, London / UK; www.bpf.co.uk) Recycling Group (BPFRG, www.bpf.co.uk/recycling/default.aspx), which claims that the government’s system for recycling packaging waste incentivises exports at the expense of local recycling – see Plasteurope.com of 01.02.2013.
Roger Baynham, BPFRG chairman, said the agreement with Centriforce “is evidence of the sort of far-sighted initiative which is required by brand owners and retailers if the UK is not only to achieve its packaging recycling target but to create sustainable resource-efficient low carbon manufacturing. For too long the UK and indeed the world has been too reliant on Asian markets for plastic waste”.
05.02.2013 Plasteurope.com [224482-0]
Published on 05.02.2013