Axion calls for new approaches in plastics recycling

Conflicting opinions in the debate over future recycling rates in the United Kingdom are raising questions about how challenging targets could be met, claims a leading resource recovery specialist.

Commenting on industry concerns that England may miss its 50 percent recycling target by 2020, Keith Freegard, director of U.K.-based Axion Consulting, suggests radical rethinking is needed in the sector if curbside recycling rates are to be improved.

“There is much contrasting discussion, yet what’s needed is fundamental change if we are to maximize recycling rates,” Freegard says. “The proposed EU rate for 2030 of 70 percent recycling and nil to landfill is certainly ambitious, but how are we going to get there? The focus should be on what rate is possible—and crucially, what is achievable?”

Currently, Freegard continues, a local authority recycling rate is measured by the amount of waste collected from the curbside. Freegard suggests this should be measured in an entirely different way by taking into account the efficiencies at each stage of the process. “The approach would be based on actual levels of materials recycled, not collected,” he notes.

“Recycling is a multi-stage process starting in U.K. households and including curbside collection, MRF sorting, re-processing and eventually back into re-manufacturing. In my view, material recovery efficiency is critical at all stages right through from the ‘urban miners’ or householders putting materials out for collection, to the MRFs sorting the commingled material through to producing the final product. This applies whether it is a plastic bottle or newspaper and provides a more accurate assessment of how much household waste is actually recycled and diverted from landfill.”

“Based on our numbers, I would suggest that a 50 percent recycling rate measured at the curbside is about as good as we’re going to get unless we change something really significantly,” Freegard continues.

The largest efficiency losses in the process occur within the household when the urban miners are the critical operators in terms of extracting recyclable packaging items from the black-bag waste bin and placing them correctly into the recycling stream. Low rates of participation, poor identification and capture of some types of packaging and a general lack of willingness to recycle all contribute to to huge losses of materials at this stage.

The revised Waste Framework Directive states that local authorities must have separate collections of dry recyclables in place by January 2015, unless it is not ‘technically, environmentally and economically practicable’ (TEEP) for them to do so or appropriate to produce high quality recycling.

While acknowledging that any solutions would need to work within the requirements of TEEP, Freegard argues that a fundamental change of approach is needed to meet future challenges rather than ‘doing more of the same that we’ve been doing for the last 10 years.

Possible strategies could include simplifying recycling for householders by changing to a negative sort, where traditional recyclables go into one main bin, food waste goes into a separate bin for composting or anaerobic digestion and the remaining truly nonrecyclables are put in a small black bag for energy from waste.

Additionally, Freegard says that packaging should be re-designed with simpler materials to simplify recycling and should be clearly labelled to inform the urban disposer, he suggests. He says stronger legislation could encourage and reward companies who use high levels of recycled content in new goods, perhaps providing financial incentives for those who demonstrate they are taking action.

“We should be rewarding best performers all along the chain, such as best quality household waste providers, best waste reduction areas and best MRF sorting systems. There should also be rigorous policing of non-participants in recycling schemes. Perhaps our biggest challenge of all will be implementing a strategy for change,” Freegard adds.

Axion Consulting, a part of the Axion Group, develops and operates resource recovery and processing solutions for recycling waste materials.