More than 150,000 tonnes of flexible plastic could be recycled across the UK within two years if the government and food and drink industry can solve a capacity crisis, a landmark trial has found.
The result of the three-year FlexCollect trial, backed by a raft of leading food manufacturers, showed the market for kerbside collection of flexible plastics was affordable, scalable and had widespread backing from the public.
However, it also revealed the UK had insufficient recycling capacity to meet anticipated demand from 2027, when the government’s Simpler Recycling measures will make it compulsory for councils to collect the material, paid for by the industry under the incoming extended producer responsibility (EPR) packaging tax.
FlexCollect trial
The FlexCollect trial involved pilots across 10 local authorities, covering 160,000 households, and resulted in more than 400 tonnes of flexible plastic being collected.
The results were revealed at a launch in Westminster today attended by Defra minister Mary Creagh.
They demonstrated “strong public support” for the scheme, which resulted in high-quality material for recycling, with nearly 80% of the collected plastic “target material”.
The trial also showed collecting the plastic could cost as little as £1.96 per house per year, with sorting costs as little as 17p.
Collections were easy to implement, using dedicated bags or in some instances loose plastics combined with other recyclable materials. Disruption to sorting facilities was minimal, the study found.
But the report highlighted insufficient recycling capacity for the future demand, amid a lack of investment from the industry and high prices of recycled plastic compared to virgin material. That came despite the introduction of the UK’s plastic tax, and meant the UK lacked the necessary infrastructure to capitalise on demand.
It concluded there was “not sufficient capacity” in the UK to recycle the 150,000 tonnes expected to be collected each year under EPR and Simpler Recycling. This was despite several mechanical and chemical recycling facilities being in development or planned, though there was also potential to use spare European capacity in other countries.
The trials were launched in 2021 and backed by founding partners Mars UK, Mondelez International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever.
Today’s report said the trials sent a clear signal to accelerate investment in UK-based reprocessing capacity and develop robust end markets for recycled flexible plastic packaging.
At the current rate of progress, producing food-grade flexible packaging from recycled material at scale was realistically still five to 10 years away, it said.
The Flexible Plastic Fund, which was spearheaded by experts from Ecosurety, Suez Recycling and Recovery, Recoup and Wrap, now plans to launch a new major project to look at the necessary conditions for the industry to recycle flexible plastic at scale.
“FlexCollect has shown that collecting plastic bags and wrapping from people’s homes is not only possible – it’s popular, efficient, and scalable,” said Gareth Morton, FPF representative and discovery manager at Ecosurety.
“This report is the culmination of years of hard work by the FPF project partners, and a critical step towards a circular economic system for flexible plastic packaging in the UK.”
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