British Plastics Federation launches sustainability report, stresses plastics’ essential role in responsible society

11 Jan 2021 --- The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has launched a sustainability report, highlighting recent industry progress and emphasizing that, contrary to common belief, plastics’ continued use is essential to achieving national environmental targets.

The report’s authors address a number of issues, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of Brexit and the looming UK Plastics Tax. 

Last year’s plastic triumphs 
Speaking to PackagingInsights, BPF Plastics and Flexible Packaging Group director Barry Turner draws attention to the year’s most salient environmental sustainability achievements. 

“The BPF released EcoDesignGuide.com in 2020, a searchable database of sustainable design tools from across the world, featuring carbon calculators, recyclability guides and other useful tools for the industry.” 

The report mentions that efficient practices have led to a 19 percent improvement in energy efficiency in the UK, equivalent to nearly 55,000 tons of carbon emissions savings– enough energy to power 6,400 homes for a year. 

BPF says the UK Plastics Tax, if implemented as currently proposed, would burden the industry with additional costs.“The BPF also launched an online learning platform, PolymerCourses.com, and the first course was ‘Sustainable Plastic Packaging—The Fundamentals of Good Design.’ It is an interactive, online course aimed at professionals across the packaging supply chain, including brands, retailers and manufacturers.”

“Furthermore, the BPF has been working with Defra, Wrap and the supply chain to develop the introduction of kerbside collection for all plastics, as well as developing a Recycling Roadmap that reduces the UK’s reliance on recycling of plastic waste overseas.”

Flexible packaging recycling innovation
Turner explains many initiatives to improve flexible packaging collection systems and recycling technology got underway in the past year. 

“The report highlights Jayplas’ new plastic film sorting facility in the Midlands. The £10 million [US$13 million] plant investment is intended to reduce reliance on plastic waste exports and can handle up to 80,000 tons of film per year. Furthermore, the plant has also begun to trial the sorting of films collected by authorities and flexibles brought back to stores by consumers.”

“This ties into the call from industry to consistently collect all plastic packaging across the UK. This will ensure higher volumes of material are collected while ensuring potential feedstock for future recycled content incorporation (into flexibles) is available for companies to utilize.”

COVID-19 consumption changes 
The changes forced on public behavior by lockdown measures had a positive impact on plastic usage overall, continues Turner. 

“The impact of COVID-19 has been a change in the consumption of packaging and also recycling. As more people have worked from home and lockdowns have resulted in remote learning at certain times, the consumption of food and drink in the home has increased while consumption of food and drink away from home has plummeted,” he details.The UK plastics industry has overachieved on its energy reduction goals by 5%.

“The net result is that overall plastic packaging consumption in the home has increased, but this has been more than offset by reductions in consumption away from home and in certain non-food sectors.” 

“In fact, the amount of plastic packaging consumed in 2020 is thought to have fallen by 8 to 9 percent, based on work done by Valpak and Wrap in 2020. This follows a reduction of 3 percent in 2019 compared to 2017. 

No break from Brexit 
In 2019, Turner spoke with PackagingInsights about the dangers a “hard” Brexit could have posed to industry. He stressed a no-deal departure from the EU could result in disruptions throughout the entire supply chain. 

With the dangers of a no-deal Brexit avoided, he says the impacts of the trade deal – particularly on sustainability efforts – is something still uncertain.

“It is too early to say what the impact will be at the moment. At present, Brexit is creating extra administrative burdens associated with importing and exporting goods,” Turner details. 

BPF maintains plastic usage is essential in achieving the UK’s sustainability targets.“With [sustainability] legislation unlikely to diverge significantly from Europe, the jury is still out on the extent of divergence in policy that will occur.”

“Furthermore, with international changes to waste shipments coming into force in 2021 and the UK leaving the single market, divergence in the application of these rules could impact this sector. However, it remains to be seen if this will happen.”

A taxing UK Plastics Tax? 
The BPF report stresses that funds raised through the UK Plastics Tax, due for enforcement in 2022, should be rechanneled into improving the country’s recycling infrastructure. 

Turner adds that elements of the tax are not practical and do not adhere to current technical and regulatory constraints. 

“At present, the design of the tax is yet to be finalized. However, as currently proposed, the tax presents a number of challenges, as it will not be possible for many companies to meet the required recycled content due to regulatory barriers, supply and technical constraints.” 

“In these cases, the tax will just become another cost to the supply chain. In some cases, it may be possible to offset the cost through further lightweighting, but a more sensible approach would be to apply the tax in such a way that recognizes the constraints and encourages the uptake of recycled content where inclusion is possible and safe to do so,” he concludes. 

By Louis Gore-Langton