July 20, 2010
A £2 million loan fund to boost mixed plastics recycling has been introduced today by government-funded recycling adviser WRAP. It aims to provide an incentive to recycle packaging such as yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and rigid plastic food trays – WRAP points out that at a time when prices for recovered PET plastics are at an all-time high, 90 per cent of mixed plastics in the waste stream are going to landfill.
The Mixed Plastics Loan Fund will provide capital support to potential investors in mixed plastics reprocessing capacity in the UK. It was created by WRAP to supply a source of funding which had been more difficult to secure through traditional financing sources due to the emerging nature of the industry. It has been set up as a loan fund, as opposed to offering a capital grant, so that investors can pay back the money after they start making a profit and WRAP can re-invest those funds into more support for the mixed plastics market.
Last summer, research undertaken by WRAP showed that it was technically possible, commercially viable and environmentally best to recycle mixed plastics on a large scale. WRAP followed this up with a capital grant
awarded to recycling firm Greenstar WES which is now commissioning infrastructure for the UK's first mixed plastics reprocessing plant. It aims to deliver 20,000 tonnes of mixed plastics reprocessing capacity and be processing this material by March 2011.
WRAP's long-term goal is to see mixed plastics recycling capacity established and maintained purely by the private sector. Its 2008 - 11 business plan contains a target to deliver 40,000 tonnes of mixed plastics recycling capacity in the UK by 2011.
Around 1·7 million tonnes of mixed plastics are discarded by households in Britain each year and only around 20,000 tonnes of this is diverted from landfill. WRAP estimates that as high quality recycled plastics can sell at anywhere between 50 and 100 per cent of virgin polymer prices (at about £900 - £1,000/tonne), there is a potential market worth £250 - £500 million a year. Paul Davidson, WRAP’s plastics sector specialist, said: "We know that the general public wants to recycle items such as plastic yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and rigid plastics like food trays, but at present there is only a 5 per cent recycling rate on these items."
More details on the Mixed Plastics Loan Fund.
