This year marks Recoup’s (Peterborough / UK; www.recoup.org) 30-year anniversary of working within the plastics recycling sector. The UK organisation was set up in 1990 with the primary aim of kick-starting PET bottle recycling in a three-year project. Initially called “Operation Recoup”, the non-profit brought together major UK bottle blowers, machinery and material producers to drive recycling.

At the time of the launch of Recoup, former LinPac Plastics technical environmental manager Alan Davey said, “we feel that no such vehicle currently exists.” Davey notes in retrospect, “It is strange to think that something we thought would only be needed for three years has turned out to be even more relevant today than it was in 1990. The leadership at Recoup has taken the organisation to new levels of ambition; bringing recyclability by design to the core of any sustainability programme, driving collaboration across the value chain, championing the need for citizen education, alongside industry best practice and knowledge transference.”

Recoup has also been engaged with the public on plastic packaging and recycling over the years. Pledge2Recycle Plastics (www.pledge2recycle.co.uk) is Recoup’s citizen arm active on social media, which recently tackled Covid-19 litter with its #dontthrowonthego campaign.

Recoup has proven its adaptability and capability in the changing landscapes of plastics recycling in the UK. It notes that the wealth of knowledge within the organisation is key to driving the ambitious UK government targets, as well as being able to understand the issues with collection, sorting, reprocessing and end markets. In 1994, Recoup’s first UK “Household Collection Survey” reported that 3,150 t of plastic bottles were collected. At that time there were only eight household bottle collection schemes in the country.

Its 2019 household plastics collection survey showed that 370,890 t of bottles were collected for recycling. That is almost 20,000 t more than in 2017 (see Plasteurope.com of 25.10.2018). The organisation says it will continue to call for even better plastic bottle collection rates and seek to discuss the challenges regarding film collection rates (5%) and pots, tubs and trays (31%).

Recoup CEO Stuart Foster said, “No one could have predicted the pressure and attention placed on plastics in recent years fuelled by the ‘Blue Planet’ [BBC documentary] effect and certainly when Recoup was launched this was not forecasted to be part of our future working space. Politicians, consumers, media, and businesses are all demanding change and Recoup is central to delivering that change through increased recycling and more efficient use of plastic resources. Clearly, it cannot be right to allow plastics to leak into the environment, but neither is it acceptable to lose the opportunity to use plastic where it is the most appropriate and cost-effective material for so many applications.”

Today, Recoup comprises over 141 members including waste management companies, reprocessors, brands and retailers. Among these are some of the founding members that have been with the charity throughout the journey, and for whom the recyclability of plastics and the reduction of plastics pollution and waste have formed a key part of their environmental and sustainability ambitions.

Gordon McSkimming, sustainable packaging manager at Coca-Cola European Partners, commented, “Coca-Cola are proud to have been a partner of Recoup for the last 30 years. It’s Coca-Cola’s ambition to work towards a world without waste, and we want to see a world where all our plastic packaging is recycled, and none ends up in the rivers or oceans.”

Throughout September and October 2020 Recoup is holding a series of web presentations and discussions (see Plasteurope.com of 24.06.2020). The topics range from plastics in farming and horticulture to the opportunities of reuse and refillable strategies and challenges of recycling flexibles.