Speaking recently at a Conservative Party event, ESA’s executive director Jacob Hayler called on plastics producers to “manage their products at the end of life.”
As PCL Direct reports, Hayler was joined at the event by representatives from Defra, the WWF, the FCC and Asda “to discuss and debate the extent of the plastics problem, what can be done to solve it, and whether the government is on the right track.”
Hayler stated that, currently, the UK is recycling less than half of its plastic packaging (45 percent), saying, “This will not only inject much needed funding in domestic recycling infrastructure but will incentivise producers to design their products for recyclability. In turn, this will help bring clarity to consumers about what can and cannot be recycled.
“This must be complemented by measures to require producers to use recycled content in their products, without which, there is no point collecting materials in the first place.”
Paul Taylor, CEO of FCC Environment, added that “any efforts to reduce plastic will be hampered unless infrastructure and residual waste is tackled.”
He commented, “Although momentum is growing, at the moment it feels like words.
“Our industry would be ready to invest in the necessary infrastructure to better tackle plastic recycling if the framework was there to deal with it.”
