Serious about plastics waste
A group of 60 manufacturers, retailers and trade associations aims to withdraw single-use plastic packaging by 2025 through better design, and make 100% of plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable.
But a firm that specialises in making pallets from recycled plastic warns that consumers need to be assured that their recycling is beneficial.
If plastic is recycled as single-use packaging it merely runs a second risk of going to landfill or into the oceans, whereas re-use as a long-term product negates this risk.
The ‘Group of 40’ shares that view and pledges that at least 30% of plastic packaging must include recycled material to meet the target and the signatories must make sure 70% of plastic packaging is recycled or composted.
Jim Hardisty, MD of Goplasticpalletscom, (pictured right) says: “Few of us can say we can’t improve our habits in relation to single-use plastics but it is worrying that people might feel that their efforts to recycle other less avoidable plastics are not doing any good.
“The UK has a plastic packaging recycling target of 57% by 2020 and while innovators look to make wider use of recycled plastics, I think the greatest incentive to improve recycling rates comes from showing where our efforts are making an impact.”
Read about the UK Plastics Pact here.
A selection of the plastics waste used to manufacture recycled plastic pallets
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