1 Million Tonnes of Plastic Packaging Waste Could be Avoided by 2029

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25 June 2024

Nearly 1 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste could be avoided by standardising materials within the next five years, according to a new report.

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Over 1 billion tonnes of raw materials including energy were used in 2019 in the UK to satisfy resource demand, of which 92.5 per cent came from virgin sources. To facilitate a move towards a more circular system of material consumption and production, all industries must examine their material flow and supply chain data. 

In a new report from waste management company Biffa and consultancy WSP, nine practical interventions to the waste stream are outlined. This framework can be applied to specific resource streams and also scaled to whole sectors or individual products.

Standardisation of Materials

The largest opportunity for intervention in the plastic packaging waste stream comes with the standardisation of materials. As a result, up to 0.8 million tonnes of material can be effectively recycled, rather than wasted. Carla Brian, Head of Partnerships at Biffa, explains: “Requirements for new infrastructure are necessary but hinge on when, and to what extent, changes in the supply chain are made. Efforts to make plastic packaging more circular could simplify (with standardisation, for example) or lessen the burden on existing waste management infrastructure.”

Biffa points to the standardisation of milk bottle lids as a best-case example. Milk bottle caps were historically coloured based on the type of milk a bottle contained, but have since been replaced with a clear alternative so that colour contamination in the material waste stream is reduced.

Plastic Packaging Tax

Biffa also believes the government should extend existing legislation such as the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), which they estimate could lead to a further increase in the recycled content of plastic packaging by up to 0.3 million tonnes.

The waste and recycling industry has called for a higher target for the amount of recycled content mandated in the PPT, up to 50 per cent and progressive taxation up to £500 per tonne. However, an extension of this tax to facilitate a 75 per cent target for recycled content, rather than the current estimation of around 40 per cent (which is already the equivalent of nearly 200,000 tonnes in carbon savings in 2022 and 2023), could see the potential impact of the legislation rise to from 0.3 to between 0.5 and 0.75 million tonnes by 2029.

The full report can be read here: https://www.biffa.co.uk/campaigns/waste-net-zero-2024

Picture: a close-up photograph of plastic bottles Image Credit: Pexels

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 25 June 2024

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