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The perennial challenge facing us as a society is that, while everybody is agreed that leaving plastics in the environment has adverse effects on nature, plastics play a vital role in our daily lives.
RECOUP is involved in many initiatives to support the reduction of plastic waste, to help stakeholders across the industry ensure that, once used, plastics are removed from the environment and – ideally – recycled as part of a circular solution.
Litter affects every citizen in the UK, regardless of whether they are involved in the waste and recycling industry. Although efforts to prevent plastics ending up in the environment are ongoing, much more needs to be done. Central to building better solutions is to understand what litter is comprised of, and how it got there.
Policy changes, including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, will begin to shift the financial responsibility for collecting and managing littered packaging onto packaging producers. Policies like these require a deeper understanding of the composition of litter, especially commonly binned or littered items. Variables to study include how location, seasonality and social factors can impact their composition.
As such, it is vital to take an accurate and methodical approach, to ensure that data is consistent, comparable and objective. Data can be used not only to inform policy, but to provide key insights into how best to prevent plastic litter ending up in the environment in the first place.
Waste crime is estimated to cost taxpayers as much as £1 billion each year. While it is local authorities who foot the bill of cleaning up litter and fly tipping, it proves costly to the entire plastic value chain, financially and reputationally.
Likewise, the growing threat of organised waste crime and illegal waste export pose a challenge for industry and regulators alike.
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RECOUP is proud to have been the first official supporter signatory to Operation Clean Sweep (OCS). This international initiative from the plastics industry to reduce plastic pellet loss to the environment is led, in the UK, by the British Plastic Federation.
The initiative’s aim is to ensure that any plastic pellets, flakes and powders that pass through manufacturing facilities in the UK are handled with the care they deserve and do not end up in our rivers or oceans.
There are two types of signatories:
There are many good reasons why your own organisation should sign up to Operation Clean Sweep
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