According to the Environment Agency’s recently published National Packaging Waste Database, over 1.86 million tonnes of packaging was recycled in 2009. Angus Macpherson, managing director of the Environment Exchange, said that contrary to earlier forecasts, the country’s recycling target had been met last year. He added that there were two main reasons for the success.
Macpherson reasoned that the supply of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN) in Q3 and Q4 had significantly increased, mainly due to export growth, while the demand for packaging had dropped dramatically by some 150,000 tonnes, which was lower than the 2008 level. He said that the combination of increased supply and reduced demand has forced packaging prices to go down during Q4 as well.
In related news, Duncan Simpson, the managing director of Valpak, is hoping for a stable year for glass recycling, even with the company’s growth during Q4 a little bit lower than the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the recycling manager of British Glass, Rebecca Cocking, said that it was encouraging to see a rise in Q4 figures, although the increase was not that huge as glass recycling only climbed by about 45,000 tonnes.
With regards to metal recycling, 2009 saw a slight drop in aluminium recycling. But Rick Hindley, the executive director of Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, is very optimistic that aluminium recycling will make significant growth this 2010.
Meanwhile, steel recycling for Q4 had also increased from Q3 by approximately 15,000 tonnes. In addition, about 331,848 tonnes of paper were recycled during Q4, much higher than the previous quarter’s 291,403 tonnes.
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