PackFlow Refresh 2023: A review of the quantity of packaging placed on the market and recycled in 2022 with compliance projections to 2028.
Packaging compliance specialist Valpak (a Reconomy Group Company), together with WRAP, has published updated PackFlow reports which estimate the amount of packaging placed on the UK market (POM) in 2022 and projected the POM and recycling rate through to 2028.
The PackFlow Refresh 2023 series of reports provide a update to the previous PackFlow Covid-19 series of reports. Updating POM estimates from 2019 to 2022, and projections from 2022 to 2028.
The PackFlow Refresh 2023 reports cover glass, aluminium, steel, paper and card, plastic and wood and are designed to quantify how much packaging is placed on the UK market (POM) and subsequently recycled. They are also used by UK governments to inform the setting of business recycling targets.
Summary overview report
A brief summary of each of the Packflow Refresh 2023 individual material reports.
Paper and card
It is estimated that paper and card packaging POM in 2022 is 4,843k tonnes, a decrease of 3% from 2019. The total tonnage of paper and card packaging recycled in 2022 is estimated to be 3,934k tonnes.
Glass
It is estimated that there were 2,562k tonnes of glass packaging POM in 2022, a decrease of 0.5% from the previous estimate in 2019. The total quantity of UK glass packaging recycled is estimated to be 1,898k tonnes in 2022. In 2022 it is estimated that, 82% of glass collected was recycled in the UK.
Aluminium
It is estimated that aluminium packaging POM in 2022 is 257k tonnes. Aluminium packaging recycling is estimated to be 157k tonnes in 2022, and it is estimated that 98k tonnes of aluminium packaging was not recycled in 2022.
Steel
It is estimated that steel packaging POM in 2022 is 474k tonnes. Steel packaging recycling is estimated to be 506k tonnes in 2022 and it is estimated that in 2022, 47% of steel packaging collected was recycled in the UK.
Plastic
It is estimated that UK plastic packaging POM for 2022 is 2,082k tonnes, a decrease of 208k tonnes from 2019. The waste plastic packaging delivered to recyclers as a percentage of POM is estimated to be 62% (1,285kt). The recycled plastic exiting recyclers as a percentage of POM is 44% (925kt).
Wood
It is estimated wood packaging POM in 2022 was 1,385k tonnes, a 1% increase from the revised 2019 wood POM figure of 1,383k tonnes. A total of ~4.3 million tonnes of waste wood was estaimted to be recovered/recycled in 2022.
Download files
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Summary overview
PDF, 2.57 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Aluminium
PDF, 2.36 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Glass
PDF, 1.75 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Paper and Card
PDF, 1.78 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Plastic
PDF, 2.21 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Steel
PDF, 2.22 MB
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Packflow Refresh 2023: Wood
PDF, 1.72 MB
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