In a response to the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) recent packaging report, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) has strongly disagreed with the 56.9 percent plastics packaging recycling target by 2020 set by DEFRA. Additionally, the BFF is criticizing the U.K. agency’s proposal to split plastics recycling by polymer type.
In a statement, the BPF reiterated its earlier call for a revised target of 50 percent by the year 2020. The figure, the BPF says, is a more attainable goal for plastics companies in the United Kingdom.
The BFF notes that the 50 percent target was set by the Plastics 2020 Challenge, a three-year environmental drive launched by the BPF, PlasticsEurope and the Packaging and Industrial Films Association (PAFA) last year. A founding commitment of this campaign was to achieve zero plastics packaging waste in landfill by 2020 - this is to be achieved at least in part by a commitment to double plastics packaging recycling by 2020, effectively to 50 percent.
The BPF says that the current infrastructure will make it very difficult to achieve the higher standard pushed for by DEFRA. A spokesman for the BFF, says, “The 56.9 percent target is unrealistic, and the BPF would like to see the evidence DEFRA has that the target will bring environmental benefits. “
On the proposal to split the recycling target by polymer, BPF’s letter says that it would be tantamount to a direct intervention into the market since it could lead to an avoidance of packaging which for various logistical reasons might be difficult to recycle yet some of the materials deemed unrecyclable provide environmental benefits in terms of food storage and energy saving.
The 50 percent recycling target by 2020 might be achievable if all relevant parties in the plastics packaging chain fully cooperated and logistical issues such as the disparity in standards operated by the different local authorities are seriously addressed.