Recycling Roadmap
The next decade will bring with it huge opportunities for the UK plastics recycling industry as the plastics value chain moves towards a circular economy and companies are incentivised to use more recycled content in their products.
Created by the British Plastics Federation (BPF), this roadmap analyses market data and uses expert assessment to provide an ambitious vision for dealing with plastic waste by 2030.
It provides answers to a number of questions, including:
- What is the capacity for plastics recycling in the UK?
- How could this change and grow in the next decade?
- What is needed to cut our exports of plastic waste and recycle more in the UK?
The report looks at how we deal with our waste today but also how we could deal with it by 2030, including an examination of the emerging technology of non-mechanical recycling and the key role it will play in the future.
A significant part of this is to move to zero reliance on low-quality export to reverse the current dependence on export as an outlet for end-of-life plastics.
Britain has the chance to lead the world in the rapid transition to a circular economy for plastics, where a ‘full-system’ approach is taken for collection, sorting and reprocessing of plastic products. The roadmap examines the drivers required to make this possible.
Key Predictions for 2030
The roadmap projects what the UK could achieve over the next decade, provided the correct drivers are put in place.
If the right policy, investment and infrastructure develops over this time, the BPF has found the following could occur:
- Minimal plastic to landfill (1%)
- Zero reliance on low quality export (9%)
- Over 30% reduction in EFW
- Over 3 times increase in UK mechanical recycling tonnage
- 3.5 times increase in reprocessing in the UK
- Waste plastic processed by non-mechanical recycling could grow 60 times
Forecast From Now Until 2030
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The two diagrams below visually represent the same data: changes that can occur over the next decade, provided the right drivers are in place.
Diagram 1 - Spheres representing changes from 2020 to 2030
UK Waste Plastic Flows 2020 and 2030 - Tonnage, kTonnes
Diagram 2 - Bar chart representing changes from 2020 to 2030
Drivers Needed to Achieve This Outcome
Some key changes needed to achieve this outcome over the next decade include:
- Technology advancements, including in non-mechanical recycling
- Legislative framework supportive of domestic recycling in the UK
- Online information on repair, upgrade, reuse and recycling of longer life products
- Government recognition that waste management infrastructure is critical
- Specific product recycling schemes set up for products not collected kerbside
- Significant increase in use of recyclate (wherever practical)
- Split PRN/PERN
- Assistance with ‘end of waste’ accreditation
- Appropriately designed fiscal incentives
- Kerbside film recycling established
- Quality standards for bales
- Consistent collection in all local authorities
- Binary recycling labels on all products
- Widespread use of life cycle assessment
- All HWRCs to have recycling for durable plastics
- Unified designed for recycling guidance (building on existing)
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