Resource and waste management company, Veolia, has said in a COP26 statement that the carbon impact plastic has on the planet ‘cannot be ignored’.
Citing Imperial College London research, Gavin Graveson, Veolia Senior Executive Vice-President, Northern Europe Zone says that if all plastics were recycled, we could save annually up to 150 million tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent to stopping up to 40 coal fired power stations.
Mr Graveson said: “We simply cannot ignore the carbon impact that plastic has on the planet. If we are to make a real difference to delivering the UK’s net zero commitments, it’s time to mandate recycling ALL plastics and stop it from entering our black bag waste.
We have the solutions to hand, we just need to incentivise more UK infrastructure investment and jobs by bringing more plastics into the recycling stream
“At the end of the day plastics are made from fossil fuel, but they can be made from recycled plastic! If all plastics were recycled we can save annually up to 150 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to stopping up to 40 coal fired power stations.
“We have the solutions to hand, we just need to incentivise more UK infrastructure investment and jobs by bringing more plastics into the recycling stream.”
“It’s time for us to end our reliance on virgin materials to make our consumer goods and create recycled feedstock for UK manufacturers – let’s remove plastic from our waste, boost recycling and the green circular economy to protect the planet.”
Veolia believes to make this a reality by 2030 the following actions need to be taken:
- We must deliver the Resources and Waste strategy to help the UK increase its recycling rates, incentivise sustainable product design, support consumers to recycle more and create markets for recycled plastic
- Enforce the groundbreaking Plastic Packaging Tax launching in April 2022 and scale this up over time
- In turn Veolia will invest in new and existing recycling infrastructure to collect and recycle more plastics and support the levelling up agenda
- Veolia will continue to innovate in partnership with others including local authorities to find new and better solutions to treat our plastic waste such as better sorting and chemical recycling.