The UK produces 20 times more plastic today than 50 years ago and uses approximately five million tonnes every year¹. There are at least 50 different types of plastic in the UK. Plastic is highly versatile in both colour and shape and, being lightweight and durable, has many different uses.
Plastic, particularly that used for packaging, has a short life span and is simply discarded after use, but almost all plastic is recyclable at the end of its life, typically for a maximum of six times. Anything that cannot be recycled due to economic or environmental reasons should go to Energy for Waste to provide much needed power rather than being sent to a landfill.
The advantages of recycling are many:
- Conserves non-renewable fossil fuels (plastic uses 8% of the world’s oil production, 4% as feedstock and 4% during manufacture)
- Reduces the consumption of energy
- Reduces the amount of waste going to landfill
- Reduces carbon dioxide emissions
- Reduces dependence on commodity plastic pricing
- Gives a positive corporate social responsibility and positive PR message
Fortunately, the UK consumer has embraced recycling and while it has taken approximately 30 years for recycling to become the ‘norm’ there is still plenty of room for improvement. The humble plastic bag, for many the symbol of a ‘throw-away’ society, has been targeted as a wasteful resource with UK supermarkets and shops. Usage has been cut back from 17.5 billion in 2003 to around 4.5 billion per year. We currently recycle approximately 24% of plastics in the UK, but a recent EU directive is challenging consumers, businesses, and the plastics industry to double the amount we recycle by 2020 or face financial consequences.
The UK lags behind its European counterparts and a benchmark country, like Germany, recycles 44% of all plastics². Although plastic recycling in the UK is rising, we are still dumping roughly three quarters of pre and post consumer plastic waste in landfills.
Around one million tonnes of domestic plastics, about 45 billion individual items, are disposed of every year in the UK. This represents at least 9% of household waste by weight¹. Plastics can take more than 400 years to break down in a landfill, but recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours. More than 50% of litter found on UK beaches in
Plastic Recycling
Issue 6 | July/August 2010