On July 13, 2022, Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic, published results from The Big Plastic Count, a national voluntary plastic waste audit of nearly 100,000 UK homes. They found “on average, each household threw away 66 pieces of plastic packaging in one week… [and] if the totals for count week are assumed to be typical, this indicates that UK households are throwing away an estimated 1.85 billion pieces a week, or 96.57 billion pieces a year.” Food and drink packaging made up 83% of the 66 pieces with produce packaging and snack wrappers being the two most common items.
Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic asked the UK government to (i) set a target “to almost entirely eliminate single-use plastic in 15 years” with mandates for corporate plastic reporting and an interim target of 50% reduction by 2025; (ii) ban plastic waste exports; (iii) implement deposit return schemes and extended producer responsibility schemes (EPR) for drinks containers that are consistent across the UK; and (iv) “set an immediate moratorium on new incineration capacity.”
When information from The Big Plastic Count is combined with data from the recycling charity RECOUP about what types of plastic are recycled at what rates in the UK, the report authors found only 12% of plastic gets recycled within the UK. Another 17% is exported where it is often marketed as being recycled. However, the investigative reporting from Bloomberg in March 2022 found that the ultimate fate of exported plastic is questionable.
According to reporting from Circular, following publication of The Big Plastic Count “the UK’s second largest waste authority and London’s largest… [waste authority] called on the UK government to ‘urgently’ ban more single-use plastics and introduce a 50 pence charge on coffee cups ‘without delay’.”
In 2018, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) published a resources and waste strategy to guide recycling, EPR, and other waste-related programs and policies in England until 2050. The scheme outlines the implementation of standards for bio-based and biodegradable plastics (FPF reported), the creation of a deposit return scheme, and the improvement of recycling rates for packaging (FPF reported). A 75% recycling rate for packaging, some of the EPR fees, and other milestones of the strategy are set for 2030 but according to Environmental Services Association and other waste management coalitions in the country, Defra’s goals lack clarity and without more details, implementation may be delayed.
In June 2022, the organizations sent a letter to Defra asking the agency to confirm which materials will need to be separated for recycling. And additionally, to clarify the final timeline of the deposit return scheme, fee structure of the EPR program, and other details to provide a complete picture of what the regulatory system will look like.
Scotland’s single-use plastics ban went into force on June 1, 2022 (FPF reported) and a deposit return scheme for drinks containers is planned for 2023 (FPF reported). Members of the UK Plastics Pact pledge to reduce the amount of plastic used in product packaging with defined targets for 2025 and 2030 and for food retailers an additional goal of removing packaging from whole fruits and vegetables (FPF reported, also here). UK-based civil society organization Wrap found that selling produce without plastic packaging and date labels would save 100,000 tons food and 10,300 tons of plastic in the UK yearly (FPF reported).
References
Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic (July 2022). “The big plastic count results.” (pdf)
Darrel Moore (July 14, 2022). “Bans on more unrecyclable plastic “urgently needed”, says waste authority.” Circular.
Defra (December 2018). “Resources and waste strategy for England.” UK Government
ESA, LARAC, & NAWDO (June 30, 2022). “Delivery of the Government’s packaging and recycling reforms.” Circular. (pdf)
Read more
Scottish Government (June 1, 2022). “Single use plastics ban.”
Darrel Moore (July 1, 2022). “Concerns raised over packaging and recycling policy reform delays.” Circular.
Jonah Fisher (July 12, 2022). “The Big Plastic Count: Survey shows ‘recycling doesn’t work’.” BBC
Darrel Moore (July 12, 2022). “The Big Plastic Count “paints a dire picture” of the UK’s waste management systems, say campaigners.” Circular.
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes (July 13, 2022). “Plastic recycling isn’t effective, as households recycle just 12% of single-use plastic packaging per year, UK survey says.” EcoWatch
Alice Lang (July 28, 2022). “RECOUP: new guide aims to universalise citizen plastics recycling advice.” resource
