Helen Bird, Head of Materials Systems Transformation at WRAP said,
“For something to be ‘recyclable’, it must be designed for recycling as well as collected, processed and remanufactured at scale. Ahead of ‘soft’ plastic recycling directly from our homes - due before 2028, supermarkets stepped up to provide collection points to fill this gap. While not perfect, these have acted as an important catalyst for crucial investment in UK recycling infrastructure and end markets and instilled new habits in people to separate bags and wrapping for recycling. Much of this material is being recycled into products such as refuse sacks and street furniture, as well as new packaging including Heinz beans ‘snap pots’, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Kingsmill 50/50 and Nestle’s Kit Kat. But it’s a complex situation. Too much packaging is made from different types of plastics that are difficult to recycle and the end market is not stable. More transparency is needed to provide confidence to people of what’s happening to the collected materials. But there is one thing for certain: if it doesn’t get placed in the recycling, it will not get recycled.”