The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirms it has delayed the mandatory collection of plastic films and flexible packaging until April 2030.
As part of information released to local authorities, Defra announced that the mandatory kerbside collection of plastic films and flexible packaging from workplaces and households has been delayed until 1 April 2030.
Circular Online has approached Defra for comment.
Simpler Recycling rules require local authorities in England to collect food and garden waste, paper and card, all other dry recyclable materials, such as glass, metal and plastic, including cartons, and residual waste.
The kerbside collection of plastic film and flexibles was originally expected to become mandatory by 31 March 2027.
Local authorities have repeatedly raised concerns about the implications of introducing collections for these materials.
LARAC (Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee) said a lack of established domestic end markets and the readiness of sorting and reprocessing infrastructure were key reasons why the policy should be delayed.
Gareth Rollings, Chair of LARAC, said the delay reflects concerns that local authorities have raised about the readiness of the wider recycling system and the financial and operational consequences for local authorities.
“Councils remain committed to delivering effective recycling services, but they need a system that is properly funded and supported by viable sorting, reprocessing and end-market capacity,” Rollings commented.
“The additional three years must now be used constructively by government and industry to build that infrastructure and provide local authorities with the clarity they need to plan.”
However, Robbie Staniforth, Chief Policy and Impact Officer at Ecosurety, was critical of the delay and called it a ‘sad day for recycling’.
“Further delaying mandated collections will not in itself create end-markets,” Staniforth said. “The markets have had four years of advanced warning and throughout that period investor confidence in flexible plastic recycling remained low.”
“Today, that investor position has been justified. Delaying for a further three years is unlikely to improve their confidence.”
“Looking back at the 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy now, a pattern has emerged. The bold ambitions outlined have not been followed up with quick enough action, causing almost all of the policies to be delayed or abandoned. Against such a backdrop, it is no surprise that private enterprise has not delivered new infrastructure.”
Executive Director of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Jacob Hayler, called the delay the ‘correct decision’, citing a ‘lack of market capacity’ for the materials and ‘demand-side drivers’.
“It is essential that government uses the next three years to create investor confidence; deliver domestic reprocessing capacity and ensure that sufficient end-market demand exists to allow these materials to be effectively returned to the circular economy,” Hayler said.
Stuart Hayward-Higham, Chief Technical Development & Innovation Officer for SUEZ in the UK, said there is a lack of homegrown reprocessing infrastructure to meet the demand of mandatory flexible plastic and film collections.
However, he warned that further delay risks undermining confidence in the UK market and the pace of infrastructure development.
“We hope that authorities rolling out collections from now can continue to do so with the full support of EPR payments as significant recycling capacity is in place or is in development,” Hayward-Higham commented.
He concluded by saying that as flexible plastics represent a major source of fossil carbon in residual waste, the delay must also be considered when deciding the timeline for the expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme to include Energy-from-Waste.
Last year, the FlexCollect project concluded that flexible plastic collections at kerbside are popular with the public and easy to implement.
The Flexible Plastic Fund’s (FPF) project found that flexible plastic packaging can be incorporated into all collection service types with ‘relative ease’ through the use of collection bags, or loose in dry mixed recycling collections when appropriate sorting infrastructure is available.
The FPF FlexCollect report consolidates over three years of learning from trials across 10 UK local authorities. Over 400 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging were collected from 160,000 households as part of the trials, making it the largest project of its kind in the UK.
David Gudgeon, Head of External Affairs at Reconomy, said the delay was disappointing while not ‘entirely surprising’ given the lack of infrastructure for flexible plastic recycling in the UK.
“It does little to support investor and business confidence and also raises questions over whether Scotland and Wales will follow suit and whether we will see further policy divergence across the UK,” Gudgeon said.
“The key now is for the government to provide policy certainty, giving operators like us the confidence to continue investing in the infrastructure needed to recycle this material domestically and build a truly circular economy.”