PLASTICS RECYCLING UK
Black plastic packaging re-think needed / End market for recyclate can drive circularity / Recoup update report
The packaging sector has been told it should consider becoming an end market for black plastics waste and accept it will have to pay for the material it uses in its products, according to a new report. In an update from its Black Plastic Packaging Forum (BPPF), the UK recycling charity Recoup (Peterborough; www.recoup.org) said it had been advising decision-makers to avoid black plastics where possible for many years. But in its latest update, Recoup said black plastics still had a role to play if the product included recycled material and that if it was required as a use for recycled material “then the packaging industry may be needed to become the end market; to specify post-consumer black and to be prepared to pay for it.”
Recoup says packaging sector should become an end market for recycled black plastics (Photo: Recoup) |
While black plastic packaging can technically be recycled, its carbon black pigment means it absorbs infrared light and cannot be identified by near-infrared (NIR) optical sorting technology. Consequently, most black plastics are sent for landfill or incineration. However, Recoup pointed out that black plastics have historically been popular with packaging manufacturers, since they enable the use of skeletal waste, factory scrap and recycled plastics in products without creating a colour which turns off consumers.
Alternative solutions, including the use of non-carbon black pigments and other coloured materials (see Plasteurope.com of 15.05.2019, 16.07.2019, 20.08.2019, 09.09.2019, 16.01.2020, 29.01.2020 and 08.04.2020), have helped to lower the amount of unrecyclable material used in packaging. Identifying end markets for the resulting recyclate had also helped to drive value and interest in the recycling of black plastics, Recoup said.
In the latest update of its BPPF report, the charity repeated its call for all black plastic packaging to be recyclable in current, commercial-scale recycling systems by 2025. With the issues around recyclability in mind, several leading food manufacturers and retailers have moved away from using black plastics – for example in pots, tubs and trays – which has helped lower the amount of black packaging used in the UK from around 36,000 t to 10,000 t going into 2020. Black plastics now accounted for just 0.7% of consumer plastic packaging placed on the UK market each year, Recoup added.
Stuart Foster, Recoup’s chief executive, said, “The ultimate aim is to drive black plastics recycling forwards in a practical and sensible way, turning ambitions and collaborative thinking into actual delivery.”
Alternative solutions, including the use of non-carbon black pigments and other coloured materials (see Plasteurope.com of 15.05.2019, 16.07.2019, 20.08.2019, 09.09.2019, 16.01.2020, 29.01.2020 and 08.04.2020), have helped to lower the amount of unrecyclable material used in packaging. Identifying end markets for the resulting recyclate had also helped to drive value and interest in the recycling of black plastics, Recoup said.
In the latest update of its BPPF report, the charity repeated its call for all black plastic packaging to be recyclable in current, commercial-scale recycling systems by 2025. With the issues around recyclability in mind, several leading food manufacturers and retailers have moved away from using black plastics – for example in pots, tubs and trays – which has helped lower the amount of black packaging used in the UK from around 36,000 t to 10,000 t going into 2020. Black plastics now accounted for just 0.7% of consumer plastic packaging placed on the UK market each year, Recoup added.
Stuart Foster, Recoup’s chief executive, said, “The ultimate aim is to drive black plastics recycling forwards in a practical and sensible way, turning ambitions and collaborative thinking into actual delivery.”
23.04.2020 Plasteurope.com [244951-0]
Published on 23.04.2020