Could recycled plastics supply three-quarters of UK demand?

As a whole, the UK consumes over 3.3 million tonnes of plastic products every year, and for many industries plastic is a necessity. So, the prospect of three-quarters of this being replaced with recycled plastics is an appealing thought for many of us.

Currently, the UK is only recycling 9% of the total amount of plastic we use; the rest is exported to be recycled abroad.

Recently a report from Green Alliance stated putting taxes onto products made from ‘virgin’ plastics could encourage an additional 2 million tonnes of plastics to be recycled in the UK, and used within our industries.

However, clearly another tax levied at the Plastic manufacturing industry would simply result in an increase in plastic product prices. This then makes us uncompetitive with other countries that do not have our recycling knowledge or intentions.

The three recommendations being discussed currently, are the following:

• A minimum requirement for the amount of recycled content in packaging and single us plastic products. Something that we at Rayda are not involved in.
• Short term support given to start the plastic reprocessing market.
• A fund in place to stabilise the market so that companies can invest in recycling materials domestically.

This report follows on from the big news that all major supermarkets have signed a pact to cut the amount of plastic they’re currently using.

If the UK meets the goal of domestically recycling 2 million tonnes of plastics every year, it will be able to provide 71% of the raw materials need to meet the UK demand from manufacturers.

Here at Rayda we use recycled materials in all of our products, and are big advocates for making our industry more sustainable. Over 50% of the products we produce, are manufactured from 100% recycled material.

The plastics manufacturing industry in the UK has been heavily involved in the use of recycled materials for decades of course. However, without proper Government support for the recycling industry in the UK, many companies will continue to be forced to export their scrap plastic.

Many recycling companies, including cardboard recyclers, have closed over the recent years and this problem has not been tackled in this country.

If you are looking for more information about how recycled plastics can be used in the plastic extrusion process, get in touch with our team.