It launched new guidance yesterday 10 may which provides local authorities with practical advice on how best to collect nonbottle rigid plastics in a drive to push up recycling and reduce contamination at reprocessing plants. One key message wrap issued was to keep flexible material separate from rigids. Flexible packaging, for example films and single use carrier bags, is difficult to separate out mechanically and commonly results in lowergrade bales being produced. According to wrap, this continues to be an area of focus for the industry, for example through wrap&rsquos work with retailers on packaging design and labelling, and through wider review of the uk recycling market for films.
Films can be recycled, for example into damp course membranes, but many are degradable, limiting their suitability for use in longlife products. Other applications are emerging, such as the conversion of films to diesel, but the challenge of separating these when presented along with other flexible items such as paper in the household recycling stream remains, according to wrap. The organisation said that at present the best option remains to encourage the recycling of flexible plastic packaging through dedicated bring banks and retail front of store collection points.
Currently, only around 10 of rigid plastic packaging is recycled from household collections. This is despite studies, which show that householders are keen to recycle this material and where collections are provided, yields of all recyclables increase. According to wrap, the challenge for local authorities is how to best collect these materials and communicate with residents about what can and cannot be collected. Food trays black rigid packaging, for example food trays, continues to be a challenge to identify and positively sort in material recycling facilities and plastics recovery facilities as the carbon black colourants prevent the plastic from being detected by the optical sorting equipment.
According to wrap, retailers like black food trays because they enhance the appearance of the contents. Wrap said that it has supported trails of alternative black colourants that would allow optical sorting and is working with retailers and the brc to implement a solution. Wrap head collections and quality linda crichton said &ldquowe know householders want to recycle more of their plastic packaging and that increasing numbers of local authorities want to collect it, the challenge is to collect and recycle it effectively without reducing the quality and value of the plastic bottle stream. &ldquoour new guide and communications materials launched today provide information on how to collect these materials, and how to communicate with householders to ensure these materials are recycled as effectively as possible. &
important that local authorities only collect nonbottle rigid plastics if they have access to the facilities to sort and reprocess them. If nonbottle plastics are simply added to the plastic bottle recycling stream without the sorting infrastructure in place, they will become a contaminant and probably end up in landfill. Wrap&rsquos guide aims to help local authorities to maximise the value of the plastic packaging streams they collect for recycling.&rdquo
