WRAP Cymru has published “Towards a Route Map for Plastic Recycling: Creating Circularity for Plastics in Wales”, which sets out a plan for the forthcoming plastics route map for the country.
Wales is facing a number of significant challenges concerning the manufacture, use and disposal of plastics.
The country has achieved great success in recycling, achieving a 75% recycling rate for plastic bottles, however, there are 400,000 tonnes per annum of total plastic waste arising in Wales, whereas the country has a reprocessing capacity of circa 55,000 tonnes per annum.
There’s 10% recycled plastic used in manufacturing (primarily packaging), and around 61% of collected plastic waste is recycled outside of Wales.
The route map, to be published autumn of 2018, will focus on identifying the opportunities and barriers acting on markets for recycled plastics in Wales and propose actions and initiatives that can be undertaken by industry, government, trade bodies and support organisations to increase the circularity of plastics in the economy.
According to WRAP Cymru, key to addressing these challenges is the adoption of new initiatives and business models that retain plastics in economic use for as long as possible and avoid escape into the environment.
It says the plastics value chain must collaborate to ensure that products and packaging placed on the market are recyclable, easy to recover and reprocess and should incorporate as high a percentage of recycled material as possible.
Produced by WRAP Cymru, “Towards a Route Map for Plastic Recycling” is the first stage in the development of a route map for improving the circularity of plastic in Wales.
The route map, to be published autumn of 2018, will focus on identifying the opportunities and barriers acting on markets for recycled plastics in Wales and propose actions and initiatives that can be undertaken by industry, government, trade bodies and support organisations to increase the circularity of plastics in the economy.
It’s intended to be a practical, action-orientated document, developed in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders.
Key to delivery will be engagement and action from stakeholders in the plastics value chain who are ready to embrace change and able to adopt a “business unusual| perspective.
The route map will be a “living document” and will be reviewed periodically by the stakeholders, with revisions and updates made in the light of new data, infrastructure, policy or economic developments.
Within the document, WRAP Cymru recommends that by 2025 Wales should aim to achieve a fourfold growth in reprocessing capacity to around 200,000 tonnes per annum.
In order to do this, it should:
- achieve a 75% capture rate for plastics through local authority collection services, with a consistent range of plastics collected
- lead the way on capture of accurate and reliable waste data from all sources
- reduce plastic waste exported outside of Wales for recycling to 25%
- meet the UK Plastics Pact targets for relevant organisations in Wales
- lead the way in Green Public Procurement of plastic products
- support and encourage the development of new business opportunities, innovation and technologies throughout the plastics value chain, supported through the Welsh Government Circular Economy Fund
- encourage and support collaboration between research institutes and businesses to fully realise the benefits of using recycled plastics.
“Towards a Route Map for Plastic Recycling: Creating Circularity for Plastics in Wales”
