UK businesses rising to plastic sustainability challenges, WRAP report indicates

18 Dec 2019 --- Government-backed sustainability organization WRAP has revealed that UK businesses are making significant progress in reducing virgin plastic use and improving plastic recycling levels. Established in April 2018, The UK Plastics Pact members, which includes leading companies such as McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Tesco, has four main 2025 goals: to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic packaging; to make 100 percent of plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable; to recycle 70 percent of plastic packaging and; to use 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging. This week, WRAP published its first annual report and baseline data for The UK Plastics Pact, giving a clear indication of members’ starting position towards the four targets, as well as where the biggest challenges lie.

The 2018/19 report highlights that over one billion “problematic and unnecessary” single-use plastic items will be eliminated by the end of 2020. Pact members are also over halfway towards all their packaging being recyclable, and the UK is over halfway towards recycling 70 percent of plastic packaging. Also, members are a third of the way towards an average of 30 percent recycled content in their plastic packaging.

“The way that we make, use and dispose of plastic is transforming, and I am proud of the progress that the Pact has made so far,” notes Marcus Gover, WRAP CEO. “But there is no magic wand – we’re unpicking a highly complex and well-established system and making sure that we don’t simply displace the environmental cost elsewhere. Retaining the valuable role plastic packaging plays, especially in preventing food waste, is crucial. We can’t gamble with the climate in our desire to tackle plastic pollution.”

“Our Pact members have shown that they’re committed to this challenge and our new report demonstrates the breadth of action so far on tackling plastic waste. These aren’t token gestures – changes like these require a huge amount of investment and innovation. It shows that our members are working collaboratively towards the same goal.”

“Moving forward we face significant challenges, particularly around films and flexible packaging, increasing recycling, and development of re-use and refill models. These will be our top priorities as we work urgently towards a world where plastic is valued and doesn’t pollute the environment,” he adds.Recycling systems for films and flexible packaging remains a highly complex challenge. Is chemical recycling one solution?

As Gover details, developing a recycling system for films and flexible packaging remains a highly complex challenge. Chemical recycling is seen as one solution to this challenge and there is growing investment in this technology. For example, recycling and recovery organization Citeo has joined forces with Nestlé and Mars, international energy company Total and plastic recycling technology provider Recycling Technologies to develop an industrial chemical recycling industry in France.

Target 1: Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use) delivery models
Members are set to remove a total of 1.1 billion items of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic by the end of 2020, with several items such as straws and cotton buds already eliminated by the majority of members, the report indicates.

Supermarkets have already removed 3,400 metric tons of unnecessary plastic packaging from fresh produce and 137.5 million plastic stickers from fruit and vegetables. Morrisons have rolled out loose fresh produce areas to 60 stores with more to follow next year, where customers can choose from up to 127 varieties of loose fruit and vegetables.

WRAP recently issued new guidance encouraging retailers to sell more fresh produce loose and without Best Before dates in a bid to reduce plastic waste and food waste.

Target 2: 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable
In 2018, 65 percent of the plastic packaging sold by Pact members was recyclable, WRAP says. Recent activity includes the removal of more than 19,000 metric tons of non-recyclable black plastic by supermarkets – the equivalent of 1.5 billion ready meal trays.

Supermarkets Morrisons and the Co-op have removed unrecyclable black plastic completely from their own brand products. Where black plastic has been removed it has been replaced by an alternative color or clear plastic, which can be recycled.

By the end of 2020, all members are aiming to remove 21,000 metric tons of unrecyclable PVC and polystyrene from their packaging.

There has also been an increase in reusable packaging, such as the Waitrose “Unpacked” trial stores providing refill stations for dry goods, wine, beer, and detergent refillables.WRAP: Improved UK recycling levels depend on new investment in UK reprocessing of plastic like Viridor's rPET supply agreement with kp.

A key challenge will be developing a recycling system for plastic films, for example, bread bags and crisp packets, which account for 25 percent of consumer plastic packaging. Currently, only 4 percent is recycled. This will need to include innovation and investment in advanced recycling processes, WRAP suggests. 

Target 3: 70 percent of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted
WRAP estimates that the UK currently recycles 44 percent of its plastic packaging. “This is being supported by crucial new investment in UK reprocessing of plastic, including new facilities being announced by waste management giants Viridor and Biffa,” the organization states.

For example, global fresh food protective packaging supplier Klöckner Pentaplast (kp) has agreed a “transformative” five-year collaboration with Viridor in which the latter will supply 8,000 metric tons of post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) to kp annually.

Ensuring that consumers have the right information and motivation to recycle remains a challenge, WRAP highlights. All the major supermarkets are signed up to the On-Pack Recycling Labelling system and leading brands such as Pepsi, Evian and Innocent Drinks have enhanced their on-pack recycling labeling to make it “clearer” for consumers.

All the major supermarkets are helping customers to recycle more by providing plastic recycling collection points in store for stretchy film plastic, such as frozen food bags, carrier bags and bread bags, which normally cannot be recycled from home. Also, M&S is continuing to roll out collection points for difficult to recycle plastic packaging and Tesco is trialing the collection of all types of all soft plastic packaging, including crisp packets, in some stores.

Target 4: 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging
In 2018, the average amount of recycled content was 10 percent across Pact members’ plastic packaging. This is saving more than half a million barrels of oil (more than 90,000 metric tons) in virgin plastic production.

Actions by Pact members include brands launching water bottles using 100 percent recycled content such as Coca Cola’s Glaceau Smartwater and Highland Spring’s Eco Bottle.

Recycled content in personal care and laundry products is also increasing. Dove is moving to 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, while Lenor has achieved an average of 50 percent recycledWRAP is encouraging UK supermarkets to sell more fresh produce loose and without Best Before dates to decrease plastic waste and food waste.plastic across its bottles and by next year will reach up to 100 percent recycled plastic in its PET transparent bottles.

Supermarkets Waitrose, Morrisons and ASDA have adopted ready meal trays containing 80 percent recycled plastic which fluctuate in color, reflecting the blend of recycled bottles and trays they are made from.

A key challenge towards meeting the 30 percent target is ensuring there is enough high quality recycled plastic available. This is why improvements in designing packaging for recycling are so important, for example, the move by Sprite from green to clear bottles this year, WRAP explains.

“Meeting the four targets by 2025 will not only result in a circular economy for plastics but also a reduction in virgin plastic production. This will be achieved not solely through increasing the levels of recycled content in packaging and products, but also as a result of refill solutions and moving away from problematic or unnecessary plastics,” the WRAP report reads.

The UK Plastics Pact is a unique, collaborative initiative that aims to create a circular economy for plastics. It brings together businesses from across the entire plastics value chain with UK governments and NGOs to tackle plastic waste.

Since The UK Plastics Pact launched in April 2018, several other countries have followed suit, with the Netherlands and France launching pacts in the past year. WRAP is also supporting the development and delivery of Plastics Pacts in Chile, Malaysia and South Africa, with “more in the pipeline for 2020 and beyond.”

In the lead up to the UK’s December General Election, the three main political parties – Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats – bolstered their manifestos with strategies to improve plastic waste management. For example, all three parties pledged to end the export of plastic waste while the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and investment in recycling infrastructure were also promised.

Despite public commitments to reduce the use of virgin plastic, the plastic packaging sold by major UK supermarkets has risen to more than 900,000 metric tons annually, an Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) report has found.

Meanwhile, a recent Break Free From Plastic report has suggested that companies are resisting reducing their use of virgin plastics because doing so would force abandonment of their growth projections.

By Joshua Poole