British Plastics Industry Pledges to Double Recycling

A coalition of British plastic industry trade associations pledged this week to double the recycling of plastic packaging by the year 2020.

The ground-breaking campaign, titled the Plastics 2020 Challenge, represents the first time European plastic manufacturers and processors have come together to set recycling targets. The industry is pledging several commitments to the “four Rs” – reduce, reuse, recycle and recover- including:

• Developing new solutions and designs for plastic product reuse
• Supporting high efficiency energy to waste techniques for end-of-life plastics where recycling is not an option
• Reducing waste and environmental impact by designing innovative lightweight and high performance plastics and products

The Challenge is organized and sponsored by the British Plastics Federation, PlasticsEurope and the Packaging & Films Association, which together represent 5,000 companies across the plastics industry.

The coalition driven challenge was launched after research from ComRes, a leading polling and research company, found there to be skepticism amongst British councilors over whether or not the government set targets for recycling, composting and energy recovery could be met according to set timelines.

To aid in the challenge, the coalition has created a Web site to engage the public in a nationwide debate about the use, reuse and disposal of plastics, as well as providing an open forum to suggest innovative ways to meet the goal. The site reminds us that “with consumption comes waste and with waste comes responsibility” and encourages consumers to “have your say” in the possible solutions.

According to the Plastics 2020 Challenge, only 24 percent of plastics packaging placed on the market in 2007 were recycled. The challenge admittedly has a large task at hand, but recognizes that progress has already begun.