What happens to waste
Plastics & plastic bags
Background
In 2001 there was 1,678,900 tonnes of plastic packaging in the waste stream, an increase from 1,600,000 in 2000. Research conducted in September 2000 indicated that UK consumers used eight billion plastic carrier bags per year.
The Government is taking action to support the reduction of plastic packaging in the waste stream, re-use of bags and recycling of plastics more generally. See Frequently Asked Questions below for more details.
Waste Watch provide a useful information sheet on plastics available at: www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These FAQS are designed to address some of the issues related to plastic waste, and are not intended to provide a comprehensive review.
Q1. What is the Government doing to reduce the amount of plastic packaging in the waste stream?
Packaging is one of the waste streams affected by legislation, namely the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended).The Government's aim is to reduce the amount of waste that is generated and to manage the waste which is then produced by more sustainable means, such as reuse and recycling.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations, which came into force in March 1997, require certain businesses to meet targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste in line with the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste. This is likely to lead to an increase in the recycling of all packaging materials, as businesses will have to invest in more recycling facilities in order to meet their obligations.
The Regulations require certain businesses who handle packaging (from raw materials manufacturers, converters, packers/fillers to sellers) to recover and recycle specified amount of packaging handled by their business. They also set out the national recovery and recycling obligations for the year, and the "activity obligation" relating to the activity of the producer on packaging. The Regulations work on the basis of shared producer responsibility, sharing the obligations to recover and recycle between businesses operating at different stages along the packaging chain, including those converting materials into packaging, filling packaging and selling the packaging or packaged goods to the final user or consumer.
Q2. How has the Government encouraged reusable carrier bags?
The Government fully supports the 'bag for life' and 'penny back' schemes that have been introduced by some of the large supermarket chains. Constructive dialogue has taken place with some of the chains in order to be fully aware of the retailer issues and to be supportive of schemes that help to increase the re-use and recycling of plastic bags.
Q3. What voluntary action by retailers and others has been taken?
Last year Elliot Morley launched the Courtauld Commitment; a voluntary agreement between 13 major retailers and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to work to reduce packaging waste. This a very worthy project, which the Government fully supports, The Courtauld Commitment is a step forward in acknowledging the problems of packaging waste, at the same time as offering a way forward to solving them in a co-operative and intelligent manner.
The commitment has three broad shared objectives which the retailers will work on with WRAP to meet. These are:
- to design out packaging waste growth by 2008
- to deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by March 2010
- to Identify ways to tackle the problem of food waste
Asda, Boots, Budgens, the Co-operative Group, Londis, Iceland, Kwik Save, Marks & Spencer, Morrison's, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose are all signed up to this project pledging their commitment at executive level to achieve its objectives. These retailers represent almost the entire UK grocery sector.
Each retailer is developing its own programme of work with WRAP, and several of them are undertaking research or demonstration projects on packaging reduction funded through an £8m WRAP fund which is dedicated to stimulating innovation in this sector
The Commitment will actively contribute to the Government’s objectives of encouraging the development of more sustainable consumption and production. This is a key priority of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy – Securing the Future. The Strategy sets out a range of activity for developing the agenda through measures to promote: better products and services with reduced environmental impacts; cleaner, more efficient production processes; and, shifts in consumption towards goods and services with lower impacts. It is also a key priority of the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy being developed by Defra, food retailers and other stakeholders to help industry achieve sustainable development through widespread adoption of best practice.
A number of food retailers have introduced bag for life schemes. For more information about this please go to: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/litter/bags/index.htm
Q4. Are there any plans to introduce a tax on plastic bags?
There are no current plans for a plastic bag tax, but the Government keeps all taxation under review. All taxation measures are a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Q5. What is the Government doing about recycling plastics?
We recognise that plastics is one area of the waste stream that has less focus from local authorities than others. There are three main reasons for this:
- the highest priority is to recycle and/ or compost 'biodegradable' waste (mainly paper, card, kitchen waste and garden waste) because this waste generates green house gases when disposed of in landfill sites.
- we focus on the weight of waste, rather than the volume, and in those terms paper& card (32% of the total) and kitchen waste (21% of the total) are by far the largest fractions.
- the economics of recycling plastics are currently much more difficult than on other fractions of the waste stream.
The increasing demands that we are placing on local authorities will mean that over time local authorities will increasingly need to tackle many different elements of the waste stream in recycling terms. The point at which this needs to happen will vary from one authority to another.
Also plastics recycling is also very popular with people and we would increasingly expect that message to be received and acted on by local authorities as an appropriate response to local pressure.
There are four main problems that collectively mean that local authorities often find plastics recycling very expensive.
- the high volume to weight on plastic means that the collection and transport of this waste is difficult and expensive.
- there are often high levels of contamination in plastic making the recyclate less useable, especially where food products are involved.
- there is a very wide range of plastics in use and segregation can be a key problem - the value of recyclate is often much higher where different types of material are collected separately.
- the market for using recycled plastic is less developed than it might be and the market price reflects this.
There is work taking place to try and tackle all of these issues, either on a commercial basis or with Government support. So there are a number of trials being undertaken on different collection systems (e.g. an initial combined collection involving plastic and other, heavier material such as glass and later separation) and various approaches to crushing plastic bottles that seek to overcome transport issues.
WRAP was set up by Government to tackle the market barriers to increased recycling. One of WRAP's priorities is marketing existing recycled plastic products and removing discriminatory standards. This is linked to the development of buy recycled policies and a research and development programme to develop plastics recycling technology and support composite product development. WRAP are also working on how best to address the lack of plastics sorting/processing in the UK and are supporting the development of processing plant, which should result in an additional 20,000 tonnes of plastic bottles being diverted from the waste stream every year. You can find out more about what WRAP is doing by visiting their website at www.wrap.org.uk.
Q6. Are there targets for recycling plastics?
The Packaging Regulations set targets for recovery and recycling of packaging waste to be met by obligated businesses each year so that the UK can meet Directive targets by the specified deadline. This year the material specific business recycling target for plastic packaging is 19%. plastic bottles being diverted from the waste stream.
Q7. What is the Government's position with regard to the introduction of biodegradable plastic bags?
The Government has taken a keen interest in the issue of biodegradable plastic and has met with representatives of the plastics industry in this regard. The Government accepts that biodegradable plastic has a place in the market, it also supports the development of biodegradable plastics from non-fossil fuel sources. The Government Industry Forum on Non-Food Uses of Crops was set up in March 2001 to provide strategic advice to Government and industry on the development of non-food uses of crops.
Page last modified: 19 June 2008
Page published: 5 February 2003