RECOUP officially launches the Seabin in Peterborough!

On Tuesday 11^th February, our Seabin was officially launched by the Mayor of Peterborough, Marco Cereste, on the River Nene at the RailWorld Wildlife Haven.

It was attended by guests from the Peterborough Little Wombles, the City Council, representative for the local MP, Sam Carling, and by one of the funders and RECOUP member, Viridor.

Steve Morgan appeared on live radio on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and gave interviews for BBC Look East and Peterborough Telegraph.

The Seabin is part of RECOUP’s Litter Composition & Pathways Project, which is looking at using different approaches and technologies to understand the composition of litter, by building a comprehensive litter composition data set with the aim to provide evidence-based interventions to reduce litter pollution.

The focus of the project has been to analyse land-based litter, and the Seabin activity focusses on litter in an aquatic environment.

A Seabin is a floating bin that sits just below the water surface. It has a pump that draws in the water from a large radius which skims material off the top of the surface of the water and recovers it before it sinks.

There are two aims for the Seabin activity. One is to remove litter material at source, but another is to analyse the recovered material to understand what’s in it, including the presence of microplastics.

Guests were able to see the Seabin on the jetty and take part in a litter pick around the Seabin’s location to help clean up the local area.

We would like to thank all the guests for joining us on a cold and rainy morning to celebrate the launch, and for funding from Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) and RECOUP members Viridor, McDonalds and Ocado, to make it happen.

The Peterborough Telegraph article is here

RECOUP UK Plastic Packaging Collection Survey Outlines “Monumental” Challenge

Plastic resource efficiency and recycling charity, RECOUP, has launched its annual UK Household Plastic Packaging Collection Survey, which has outlined the monumental scale of the challenge ahead.

Whilst there have been incremental improvements across the board for kerbside service provision for plastic packaging, the scale to include other formats in collection services in a relatively short timescale is unprecedented, but one that is entirely achievable with the right drive, funding, planning and leadership.

With all UK local authorities collecting plastic bottles as part of their kerbside service in 2019, local authorities providing kerbside service provision for plastic pots, tubs and trays increased from 88% to 89% and 12% to 14% for plastic films and flexibles, the first increase after 6 consecutive years of decline. This means another 39 local authorities need to collect plastic pots, tubs and trays and 312 for plastic films and flexibles by March 2027 to comply with requirements – just over 2 years away.

Consistency of Inconsistency in Citizen Communications

Effective communications to citizens are an essential part of this process, and whilst local authorities are making significant efforts – 60% reporting they have an ongoing or continuous citizen communication campaign about plastic packaging recycling – packaging EPR funding needs to strengthen the resources to delivery these campaigns. The 2024 Survey found local authorities reported an average material reject rate of 14%, and helping to deal with issues such as contamination will be pivotal.

However, although Simpler Recycling in England and similar approaches in other nations will provide consistency of what can be placed for recycling, the 2024 Survey found there is a comprehensive inconsistency in messaging across the UK, both in the language used and instructions given.

For example, when looking at plastic bottle lids, 40% of local authorities ask for citizens to leave lids on bottles but 13% ask for them to be left off. 12% listed lids as separate target items, however, did not specify if they should be left on the bottle or not, 5% said that they can be either on or off the bottle, and the remaining 30% do not provide any guidance.

Other examples of instructions to residents will need to be adjusted to fit new policy requirements. 54% of local authorities ask for plastic bottles to be flattened or squashed, but with a DRS planned to be implemented in October 2027, this message might cause confusion as it is likely plastic bottles shouldn’t be presented in this way in a deposit return system.

The biggest common message is 85% specifying that items should be empty, rinsed and/or washed, with 53% asking for items to be disposed of loose and not bagged.

Steve Morgan, Head of Policy & Infrastructure at RECOUP, said: “Whereas the different instructions need to reflect local sorting and processing requirements, it’s in the benefits of consumers and all stakeholders to have simple, consistent national communications messages about how to present plastics for recycling. Packaging EPR and Deposit Return Schemes, through their respective Scheme Administrator and Deposit Management Organisation leadership, should build on the requirements of Simpler Recycling and provide the foundations and influence to enable one unified core set of messages about how to recycle.”.

Impact of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)

Another key finding around communications in the 2024 RECOUP Survey wasn’t to residents but around local authority funding. With the focus on packaging EPR to provide the funding to collect and sort packaging, the impact of another policy needs greater awareness and urgent and robust plans to mitigate its impact.

The ETS is a market-driven mechanism that limits the emissions an involved industry is allowed to produce, with the intention to incentivise the development and uptake of decarbonisation technologies or practices to reduce emissions. The scheme is expanding to include waste incineration and energy from waste from 2028, preceded by a 2-year transitional period from 2026, and will significantly impact the dynamics of local authority funding. To reduce this impact, removing plastic packaging from residual waste will be key.

The 2024 RECOUP Survey found that around a third of local authorities (32%) said they were not aware of the upcoming expansion of ETS and its impact on incineration and energy recovery of local authority waste. Furthermore, when asked how prepared they felt for the changes to ETS on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being not prepared at all, and 10 being fully prepared), 37% gave a score of 3 or below, indicating they do not feel confident about how it will operate. Only 12% gave a 7 or higher with no local authorities giving a score of 10.

The 2024 RECOUP UK Household Plastic Packaging Collection Survey report is available for RECOUP members to download, with the Data Summary available for non-members here.

RECOUP Updates Recyclability by Design Guidelines Amid Rising Compliance Costs and Financial Impact of Extended Producer Responsibility

Following its original release in 2006, RECOUP, the UK’s leading independent authority and trusted voice on plastics resource efficiency and recycling, has regularly updated its flagship publication, Recyclability by Design (RBD). The latest update comes at a critical time for packaging recyclability with the impending increase of compliance costs associated with Extended Producer Responsibility. There is now a positive financial driver to make packaging fully recyclable and to progress circular economy ambitions. The financial implications of not adhering to recyclability standards, such as those set out by RECOUP, will significantly increase compliance costs and lowers organisations’ sustainability credentials.

RECOUP’s Head of Packaging Recycling and Design, Paul East, commented; “RBD is a reminder of the importance of designing for recycling, when making decisions, as well as for marketing and brand recognition. By using the recommendations within RBD, you will be ensuring that your plastic packaging is given the best chance to be recycled in line with upcoming legislation.”

RECOUP has worked tirelessly to promote the core principles and good practice in pack design that give plastics packaging a greater chance of being recycled within the existing UK infrastructure, with RBD offering guidelines to help Packaging Technologists and Buyers ensure that their plastic is presented in the best way possible to the recycling chain.

There are continuous changes to recycling processes technology, and innovation continues in the packaging industry to help alleviate some of the challenges faced by recyclers.  With valuable contributions from RECOUP members and colleagues from across the industry, RBD is agile and is continuously reviewed and updated to reflect these changes, including updated polymer-specific recyclability tables.

The updated Recyclability by Design guidance is available to view on the RECOUP website.

RECOUP Calls for a more Effective Plastic Packaging Tax

Plastics resource efficiency and recycling charity, RECOUP, has called for a more effective Plastic Packaging Tax in its new position statement.

As of April 2024, the tax is applied at a cost of £217.85 per tonne for plastic packaging placed on the UK market that is not claimed to contain 30% recycled content. However, there have been a number of issues identified during the two years the tax has been in place.

An unintended consequence of the Plastic Packaging Tax is happening right now.

The Plastic Packaging Tax was set up as an ‘environmental tax’, but there have been many examples of where packaging claims to meet 30% recycled content to avoid paying the tax – with some examples either not being technically possible or cleverly using the term ‘pre-consumer’ material that might not actually have any recycled content at all.

Simply put, claims of recycled content is not being sufficiently verified or enforced, particularly for packaging (filled and unfilled) that is imported into the UK.

Calls for the cost or 30% percentage of the tax are not sufficient to incentivise use of recycled content, but if these increase without proper enforcement, false claims of recycled content will inevitably also increase, and UK recyclers could further struggle in already acutely challenging commercial conditions.

Steve Morgan, Head of Policy & Infrastructure at RECOUP said: “An incentive to include recycled content, even if it has to be a tax, is a force for good as long as it’s properly enforced. However, the UK imports around half the plastic packaging it places onto the market, and this includes packaging with claims of recycled content.

“Lack of enforcement is increasingly making the UK recyclers commercially unviable due to having to compete with cheap imports of virgin packaging and packaging with recycled content from countries with significantly lower cost base and greater access to material.

If these false claims, particularly from imported material continue, we could see a collapse of the plastic packaging recycling system in the UK as we know it, and urgent action is needed.”

Lack of enforcement also means HMRC are losing revenue for an unknown quantity of packaging that does not contain 30% recycled content. That revenue, of course, is leaving our recycling systems, and an opportunity remains to align with packaging EPR and include recycled content as part of the eco-modulation framework, and thus incorporating a more holistic environmental impact of the packaging. Revenue like this for including recycled content, if ring fenced for the reprocessing sector, would provide game changing technical strengthening and ultimately commercial transformation for UK plastic packaging recyclers.

With packaging EPR and the Plastic Packaging Tax there are significantly increased administrative burdens on producers and users of plastic packaging. Any use of an enforcement and verification framework will have an impact on producers and users of plastic packaging and changes should ensure, as much as possible, that no avoidable burdens are placed on these businesses.

RECOUP also calls for an urgent review and overhaul of the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system to provide a more stable, commercially supportive and modulated PRN for plastic packaging formats where targeted funding is needed the most.

RECOUP’s new position statement, Considerations & Recommendations for a more Effective Plastic Packaging Tax can be downloaded here.

RECOUP’s Litter Composition & Pathways Project Uncovers Crisp Packet From the 90’s

As part of the RECOUP Litter Composition & Pathways Project the team recently carried out a litter pick in a local industrial area. In total 7 bags were collected over a 2-hour period which incorporated a mixture of new material as well as legacy litter, and remarkably included a crisp packet with a 1997 expiry date!

The condition of this crisp packet was surprisingly preserved, with little degradation to the packet itself or the ink, really highlighting how litter can stay in the environment for considerable periods of time if disposed of incorrectly and left uncollected.

This was the 5^th litter pick carried out as part of the project, which came about due to the continued concern over litter pollution, and the call for better data and evidence to drive effective solutions to reduce litter.

Supported by funding from RECOUP members McDonald’s and Ocado Retail, the project’s primary goal is to review, challenge, and provide robust evidence regarding the composition of litter. To achieve this, RECOUP aims to:

• Develop a standardized, evidence-based methodology for collecting and analysing litter.
• Create a comprehensive litter composition data set.
• Test the use of Artificial Intelligence technology to determine insights such as litter distribution and composition.
• Understand the difference between terrestrial and riverine litter through the use of a Seabin, which is additionally funded by Viridor and Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT).

A variety of litter picks have already been carried out across the Peterborough area with the help of the Peterborough Litter Wombles, covering a mix of location types and deprivation levels, to understand any variations in litter types based on these variables.

As the project progresses, the methodology will be shared with litter groups across the country, with the aim for them to continue building the litter database by covering a larger variety of different location types, helping to make the data as comprehensive and inclusive as possible.

The evidence-based insights gained from this project will aid in the development of targeted interventions to combat litter pollution effectively and will be shared with government, devolved administrations, and key stakeholders to inform and advise policy decisions.

Laura Hutchings, Projects & Data Manager at RECOUP, said “It has been really interesting to see the variety of both new and legacy litter we have been collecting from each litter pick. There is an obvious need for highly thought-out, targeted interventions for the prevention of litter, and this project will provide key data and insights to help achieve this”.

If you would like to find out more about the Litter Composition & Pathways Project, please contact Laura Hutchings on laura.hutchings@recoup.org.