According to Closed Loop Recycling, the ongoing battle to prevent UK waste industry firms from shipping plastic bottle waste overseas must be approached aggressively to prevent threats to the future of the recycling industry.
The recycling firm, a top UK producer of food grade rHDPE and rPET, said that the new coalition government needed to be responsible for waste, recycling and carbon reduction, and urged them to review current practices that hampered these efforts. Chris Dow, Closed Loop’s managing director, said that the PRN system, in particular, supports shipments of plastic overseas by waste companies and local authorities.
Mr Dow’s letter clearly expresses that while green job creation and building of a more eco-friendly economy are top priorities, more attention needed to be paid to discouraging waste shipments abroad. He added that by supporting these shipments, the UK’s own burgeoning recycling industry is at risk. Additionally, Mr Dow stated that shipping valuable, reusable resources overseas was a third world practice.
Every year, thousands of tonnes of plastic bottles are thrown out in the UK. Only 39 per cent of these plastic bottles are actually collected and disposed of responsibly through recycling. A large number is publicly known to be shipped out to other countries - a practice, which Mr Dow believes, is sending a poor message to investors and consumers.
According to Mr Dow, UK plastics recycling is an industry that could provide thousands of green jobs in an economy that needs a boost.
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