MBA Polymers UK general manager supports transparency into retailers’ plastics packaging use

Paul Mayhew, general manager of MBA Polymers UK and president of EURIC’s Plastic Recycling Branch (EPRB), has voiced his support of frozen food specialist Iceland’s call for other retailers to publish figures for their total plastics packaging use as it has.

“As a leading plastics recycler, we welcome Iceland’s commitment to greater transparency in reporting the true scale of plastic waste generated by their primary product and delivery packaging,” Mayhew says.

“We also support Iceland’s call for the U.K. government to amend the Environment Bill to incorporate mandatory plastic packaging reporting for businesses and reduction targets for U.K. plastic pollution.”

“[B]usinesses need to be clear about the true extent of their plastic waste,” Mayhew says, because “you cannot manage what you don’t measure.”

If designed to be recycled, plastic packaging can cut the overall carbon impact through its light weight and its ability to extend product life, he adds.

Mayhew says, “To help the U.K. move towards a circular economy for plastic packaging, business and the U.K. government must:

• support and promote the move towards greater transparency and ownership by brands;

• promote the use of recycled content to drive the recycling of ‘recyclable single-use plastics;’

• support concrete U.K. targets for reducing plastic waste and promote the circular economy through recycled content incentives or targets.”

MBA Polymers UK’s plant in Worksop, U.K., processes plastic waste bound for landfill into high-quality, affordable polymers for a range of industries. MBA Polymers is part of the U.K.-based EMR Metal Recycling.