The Problem with Packaging
We’re all familiar with separating recycling from general waste in both our homes and businesses, but is recycling saving the planet? It seems there is still a way to go and a number of upcoming Government policies could make a difference.
The Inefficiency of Recycling
Once your household recycling bins have been collected, the rubbish is deposited at local recycling facilities where both human pickers and machinery sort through roughly 15 tonnes of bottles, cans, paper and cards per hour.
Negative pickers along the process separate ‘contaminants’ such as sweet wrappers, bread bags, Pyrex glass and carrier bags. On average, 20% of materials that arrive at recycling centres shouldn’t be there due to them being too difficult to recycle, resulting in longer picking times, an inefficient sorting process and more waste to landfill.
Additionally, around half the materials that could be recycled end up in general waste bins, and eventually landfill. To tackle this, a wider understanding of the materials that can and can’t be placed in recycling bins is needed; not only to improve the efficiency of recycling plants, but also to extract as many valuable materials and resources as possible. By ensuring that the correct items are recycled, it can limit what is sent to landfill, in addition to giving goods longer lifespans as they can be recycled time and time again.
Government Approach
Advanced Packaging Policies
Whilst local councils are doing what they can to improve the recycling process, change is needed on a wider scale. Luckily, the UK government acknowledged that change was required, proposing in 2018 the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
The scheme aims to encourage the recycling of single-use containers, to help packaging to be reused, in addition to encouraging consumers to recycle to help the environment. However, this has been put on hold until October 2027.
Another programme due to be introduced, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme, would ensure that manufacturers abide by labelling laws, featuring ‘recycle’ or ‘do not recycle’ on product packaging. Not only would this help consumers to identify if the materials can be recycled, but businesses would be encouraged to create more sustainable packaging as they will not want to be associated with materials that cannot be recycled. However, under this scheme, it would mean that compostable packaging would be marked as ‘do not recycle’, which could lead to confusion. Therefore, more clarity is needed before this is introduced in 2026.
Improving Recycling Awareness
In addition to introducing innovative schemes, the Government is campaigning for councils to collect glass, metal, plastic, paper, and food and garden waste separately, to simplify and speed up the picking process in recycling centres. Furthermore, from 2027, the Government is calling for household recycling collections to include soft plastics in their collections, materials that currently make up a fifth of all plastic packaging but are difficult to recycle. As this would result in a big change for each local council, who would need to navigate and organise/separate collections, more thought is required.
Recycling Scheme Delay
Due to the transfer of power in Government during 2024, there are no final details for the DRS and EPR schemes, with implementation delayed to a later date. Unfortunately, dealing with millions of tonnes, as well as multiple councils throughout the country to obtain cohesion, makes change slow. However, the Government must put changes into place soon, if we are to meet the target for 76% of all packaging to be recyclable by 2030.
2025 Business Waste Legislation
On a positive note, a new act is coming into place at the end of March 2025, enforcing businesses to separate dry recycling and food waste, with the aim to reduce environmental and promote sustainability.
Outlook
While recycling is paramount for helping to limit the impact of climate change, there is still a way to go to meet targets and to save the environment, but with the help of new schemes and better knowledge amongst consumers, there could be a positive outcome.
