Green issues
At Iplas, we believe that our position as the UK’s leading manufacturer of high performance recycled plastic products brings with it a responsibility to contribute to the debate about the key issues surrounding the recycling of plastic.
We relish the opportunity to be able to inform and stimulate people’s thinking and to move the debate in a positive direction. These are our views. We’d like to hear from you too, so please contact us on greenissues@zyplex.co.uk or you can contribute to our blog.
The China syndrome
Is it right that so much of the plastic waste generated in the UK is sent to China? At the moment more than a third of the waste plastic collected by UK local authorities is exported 8,000 miles to China for recycling, without any account being taken of the social or environmental costs. It has been estimated that 736,000 tonnes of plastic rubbish a year takes this route and that as many as 300 Chinese firms are active in the UK market, offering to buy plastics for recycling.
How has this been allowed to happen when UK manufacturers are facing a dwindling supply of usable waste plastic and rising prices? Reasons include tough EU regulations on recycling and the use of landfill and an (outdated) perception that the UK lacks the facilities to recycle the volumes of waste plastic it produces.
We are committed to working with the plastics recycling industry to develop a more balanced approach to the recycling of plastic waste in the UK, sending less waste to one export market (China), building up the infrastructure in the UK so that it can deal efficiently and effectively with more waste streams and ensuring that more plastic waste is made available to UK manufacturers.
Government waste targets and landfill quotas
The government is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill sites in the UK. The target for 2015 is that the waste sent to landfills should be 35% of that sent in 1995. In order to achieve the Landfill Directive, ‘Waste Strategy 2000’ set an additional target that 67% of waste should be recovered by 2015.
National recycling targets are also included in Waste Strategy 2000: 33% of household waste should be recycled or composted by 2015 and 32% of plastic packaging should be recycled by 2012.
The standard rate for Landfill Tax increased to £56 per tonne for relevant disposals of waste made, or treated as made, after 1 April 2011.This will increase to £64 per tonne on 1 April 2012 and thereafter by £8 per tonne each year up to 2014.
Please refer to Waste Online website for government legislation on waste.
Why recycling matters and what is it exactly?
Each year the UK generates over 80 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry. This waste has to go somewhere. With plastic taking up to 500 years to decompose and harmful greenhouse emissions being released, landfill is not a viable solution to the problem. Landfill sites in the UK are filling up and most will soon be at capacity.
Recycling has a positive impact on the world we live in. It uses a lot less energy than mining, refining and processing raw materials and also helps to preserve the earth’s natural resources. It is also far more cost effective.
Recycling is not the same thing as sorting. Recyling is the process that converts waste into new products (it's what we have been doing at Iplas for many years). Sorting is the process that sorts materials into different waste streams, not new products. When we say that our products are 100% recycled, that means that the whole product is made from recycled waste. Our products are also 100% recyclable: that means that the product can be recycled into something new at the end of its life, for example, a bench made from Zyplex can be made into another bench, or some decking or any other product in the range.
Greenwash - how the plastics industry is cleaning up its act
Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy about sustainable materials and products. They want “green” products but are ever more suspicious of ‘greenwash’ whereby companies make attractive claims about their environmental credentials but, if you scratch the surface, there is nothing to substantiate them. Our industry is as guilty as any of using vague terminology and failing to back up claims with facts: “environmentally friendly”, “eco”. What do these words actually mean?
At i-plas we are committed to running our business in a responsible way with minimum impact on the environment and people around us. Even though manufacturing and distribution are integral parts of what we do, we make every effort to reduce our carbon footprint and manage our resources efficiently. We are also careful about the terminology we use to describe our products and processes.
We are working with others in our industry to improve internal and external processes and to be transparent about what we do and how we do it so that our customers can have absolute confidence in our products.
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i-plas blog
Comments and observations on a range of topical issues surrounding recycled plastic.
Got an idea?
We want to hear from you about how our high performance recycled plastic might be used in new and interesting ways. Innovation and creativity welcome here.
The plastics industry is doing everything it can to encourage a reduction in packaging going to landfill by 2020 in order to reduce climate change, address the energy deficit and achieve a step change in the efficient use of resources. Iplas is proud to support the Plastics 2020 Challenge.