Plastic Recycling in the United Kingdom - Literature review Example

PLASTIC RECYCLING By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Plastic Recycling – Literature Review 1.0 Plastic Recycling In United Kingdom In General The rate of recycling in United Kingdom in 2012 was 17 percent, and most of the recycling undertaken was carried out by the statutory authorities. In this case, local authorities are in charge of collecting municipal waste as well as running contracts which normally are kerbside collection schemes. The 2003 Household Waste Recycling Act needed all UK local authorities to offer all households at least two types of recyclable materials collection bins by 2010 (Great Britain Parliament et al., 2007, p.188). Basically, almost all forms of plastics are recyclable, but still the level to which they are recycled relies heavily upon logistic, economic, and technical factors. As a finite as well as a valuable resource, the best recovery method for the majority of plastic waste is through recycling. Statistically, the United Kingdom utilises more than five million tonnes of plastic annually of which almost 24 per cent is at present being recycled or recovered. Out of the five million tonnes of plastics utilised annually, Holgate (2009, p.122) posits that 48% of this comes from packaging. Waste Resource Action Programme report shows that 34% source from households and the remaining from industrial and commercial companies. Household plastic waste in UK includes items like plastic bags, pots, plastic bottles, trays, films, and tubs. Over the years, plastic waste sourcing from domestic waste streams has considerably increase; thus, creating the need for more standardised as well efficient approach in the way household waste is collected by local councils. Importantly, UK recyclers have worked tirelessly to overcome this challenge, and this can be evidenced by the increased recycling activities in the last decade.  Based on the 2010 RECOUP household survey, they established that the overall consumption of plastic bottle in UK within the streams of the household waste was 568,000 tonnes for 2009, which indicates an increase in recycling rate as compared to the previous years. Technological innovations in plastic sorting, separation, cleaning as well as de-contamination have enabled UK local councils to efficiency collect and recycle rigid mixed packaging plastics. Establishment of a recycling plant for mixed plastics, which concentrates on rigid plastics, allowed for improved recycling activities in UK. Presently most of households’ collections concentrate only on bottles, but the number of local councils providing collection of mixed plastics and mixed rigid plastic packaging has tremendously increased (Great Britain Parliament et al., 2007, p.140). An increasing number of big contemporary manufacturing locations in UK are currently operating facilities for onsite recycling with the intention of capturing any helpful material that would otherwise be disposed. 2.0 Compare about Plastic Recycling Process in Deferent Cities in United Kingdom  In Birmingham City, three kerbside collection schemes were introduced by the local council; first scheme was blue bag/box for paper and card recycling, and was introduced in 2003 with the containers being emptied after every fourteen days. Second scheme was the green box for recycling of plastic bottles (HDPE and PET), tins, glass, and aluminum, and was introduced in 2005 (Birmingham City Council, 2014). Container emptied every 2 weeks. The last scheme was green sacks, which was introduced in 2005 for garden waste recycling. The abovementioned schemes are currently accessible to all Birmingham's households. In London, the challenge of plastic recycling and waste management is severe considering that 17 million tonnes of waste are generated annually by the capital and this is projected to increase to 26.5 million tonnes by 2020. In London, every plastic bottle in a household as well as various other mixed plastic containers is recycled provided that they were not used for storing motor oil or pesticides. Besides that, there are a number of plastics which are yet to be recycled in the capital they include: cable ties, garden pots, CDs/DVDs, bubble wrap, beads, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, and Plastic shopping bags. In Manchester city, recycling of plastics is managed by the Manchester city council, plastics waste for recycling is stored in brown containers. Waste items that are disposed of in the brown bin include: plastic bottles, glass jars and bottles and, cans, tins, and aerosols. Items that are considered un-recyclable in Manchester city include; plastic toys and plastic food trays. In oxford city, bins are accessible for all recyclable items: Mixed Paper, Steel and Aluminium Cans, Cardboard, Newspapers, as well as Plastic waste. HDPE plastic such as detergent bottles, milk jugs, and other liquid and food containers and PETE plastic such as water bottles, soda bottles, and a number of food containers are accepted. Oxford residents are expected to loosely put all plastics into the bin without plastic bags or papers. Plastic and can share a same bin and are afterward sorted at the Recycling Centre (Oxford City Council, 2013). In Cambridge, plastic bags, bottles, film, and wrap are placed in the blue recycling bin. This includes: bubble wrap, groceries’ plastic wrappers, Plastic bread bags and carrier bags, and clean Clingfilm. Most of the plastic items are not recyclable such as pet food pouches, crisp packets, drinks and baby food pouches as well as polystyrene foam and this are placed in the black bin. In Hull city, their waste collection and recycling scheme enable them to easily recycle various materials (Hull City Council, 2014). They have, brown bin, blue bin, back bin and food bin. Plastics are placed in the blue bin, and they include plastic bottles, tubs, food pots, and yoghurt pots with collection taking place after every two weeks. 3.0 Plastic Recycling In Europe  The European plastics industry from the 1960s through the 80s, offered insignificant thought to practical techniques for recovering and disposing of waste plastics (Pettigrew, 2013, p.1978). Early in 1990s, the issue came into the spotlight after the institution of the German Packaging Ordinance (Robertson, 2012, p.668). In this regard, Germany was the first European country to set up rules and regulations for plastic waste recovery as well as in establishing them on the market. Since that time, scores of European countries have formulated vastly fruitful strategies for plastic recovery as well as collection. Recent survey by PlasticsEurope established that in 2011 over 47 million tonnes of plastic were consumed in Norway, Switzerland, and 27 EU countries with 40 per cent of nondurable applications and remaining 60 per cent for durable applications. In the same year, more than 25 million tonnes of plastic waste was collected with 60 per cent being recovered, and 40 per cent heading to landfill (k-online, 2013).
moreover, the collection systems’ waste for consumed packages constituted over 60 per cent of the plastic waste, and was followed by plastic waste from the electronics, automotive, and construction sectors. Presently, Standard collection systems have been set up in some European countries such as Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, among others with rates of collection ranging from 92 per cent t to 99 per cent. Currently, six European countries the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, and Austria have the highest rates of recycling with rates between 26 per cent and of 35 per cent. The other collected wastes are recovered for generation of energy through incineration. In 2012, the rate of recycling for plastic packaging increased to 34.7 per cent from 33.6 per cent in 2011. This as per Worrell and Reuter (2014, p.183) exhibits recycling schemes in Europe countries, rooted in the extended producer responsibility is well managed. All countries have usually, through a covenant or law, fixed targets at the national level for energy recovery and plastic recycling. Such regulations are rooted in the European Union directive on Packaging Waste. In 2012, apart from Malta every country in EU in 2012 surpassed the 22.5% of EU minimum recycling targets with more than 19 countries recycling rate of over 30 per cent. Netherlands was in 2012 ranked the top country in Europe with a 50.6 per cent recycling rate. In Europe, 63 per cent of plastic packaging waste source from the households, with 37 per cent sourcing from industry and trade sector. The rate of recycling plastics for industry and trade sector improved to 37.6%, whereas that for the households segment gained 33 percent (k-online, 2013). 4.0 Plastic Recycling Polices/Regulations in United Kingdom In UK, there is the waste prevention programme meant for helping organisations and people to seize the opportunities of saving money through waste reduction. The Waste Prevention Programme sets out to: help businesses to take part in making of a sustainable economy by through plastic waste reduction, providing optional business paradigm that can improve the recycling rate (Bortoleto, 2014, p.68). The policy seeks to promote the resources valuing culture by allowing both businesses and people to understand ways of reducing their waste, as well as allow for reuse of plastic items. Moreover, the policy assists commercial and industrial companies to acknowledge and act upon possible savings so as to prevent waste, in order to achieve growth opportunities. Besides that, the EU Waste Framework Directive offers regulations for collection, transportation, recovery as well as discarding of plastic waste. The directive needs every member state to put measures into practice so as to make certain that the plastic waste is disposed of or recovered devoid of causing environmental harm or compromising human health (Williams, 2013, p.64). So, the measures must include requirements for permitting, inspection, as well as registration. The EU directive, which UK is a member state need its members to take suitable measures so as to firstly, prevent or reduce plastic waste production together with its destructiveness and subsequently waste recovery through re-use, recycling or reclamation. Plastic waste according to the directive can be recovered through other processes with the intention of getting secondary raw materials, or using the plastic waste to produce energy. The UK Waste Directive is applied in Wales and England through the 2011 Waste Regulations while Northern Ireland and Scotland have a different approach (Workplace Law Group, 2011, p.701). The UK government needs plastic producers to take Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62/EC) into consideration. The 2007 Packaging Waste (Producer Responsibility Obligations) Regulations covers recovery and recycling, and also cover optimization as well as single market aspects. 5.0 Plastic Recycling In the Middle East Plastic waste disposal has materialized as the biggest challenge in the Middle East where plastics form 10% of the solid waste stream. In rich Gulf Cooperation Council countries, composition of plastic waste in municipal solid waste is between 12% and 16% (Zafar, 2014). In Middle East, plastic waste has continued to because of the heightening utilization of plastics in day-to-day life. Statistically, the Middle East is accountable for almost eight per cent of the worldwide plastic production. Evidently, plastic waste has been the main greenhouse gas emissions source in addition to environmental damage. Most of the waste items found on coastlines across the Middle East region are plastics, and this puts the marine life into a serious danger. In UAE, disposal of Plastic waste is a big problem because of the plastics’ non-biodegradable nature and these wastes have perceptibly been available in landfill sites for many decades. Plastics recycling method is currently the best techniques for sustainable dumping of plastic wastes. Regrettably, plastic recycling in the Middle East akin to UK is much more complicated as compared to recycling materials such as re paper, aluminum, and glass. The issue is attributed by the verity that plastics are made of more than one form of polymer. In the Middle East, recycling of plastic waste is still in blossoming phases, a number of countries have begun programs for plastic waste collection but their effectiveness are still not ascertained given that nearly all of the collected plastic waste are sent to foreign countries, such as India and China, for recycling. Recently, a number of initiatives were laughed by the Middle East Governments and also centres for plastic recycling have been instituted in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, among other countries. For instance, a campaign 'Day Without Plastic Bags' was observed in United Arab Emirates capital Ajman in 2012 with the intention of encouraging plastic bags replacement with bags made up of paper, cloth, or other biodegradable materials (Zafar, 2014). Aside from infrastructural barriers, inadequate understandings as well as poor participation by the communities are key factors that have promoted plastic wastes generation (Stevens, 2002, p.16). The surprising level of plastic wastes produced in the Middle East calls for intensive effort from urban planners as well as policy-makers to formulate strategy that will allow for effective collection of plastic waste as well as recycling.  References Birmingham City Council, 2014. Household Recycling Collections. [Online] Available at: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/recycling [Accessed 24 February 2015]. Bortoleto, A.P., 2014. Waste Prevention Policy and Behaviour: New Approaches to Reducing Waste Generation and Its Environmental Impacts. New York: Waste Prevention Policy and Behaviour: New Approaches to Reducing Waste Generation and Its Environmental Impacts. Great Britain Parliament, House of Commons & Communities and Local Government Committee, 2007. Refuse Collection: Written Evidence. London: The Stationery Office. Holgate, S.A., 2009. Understanding Solid State Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. Hull City Council, 2014. Recycling and waste. [Online] Available at: http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/waste [Accessed 24 February 2015]. k-online, 2013. The World of European Packaging. [Online] Available at: http://www.packagingeurope.com/MagArchive/Archive_8_5/files/assets/basic-html/index.html#page1 [Accessed 24 February 2015]. Oxford City Council, 2013. Plastic Recycling. [Online] Available at: http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decER/PlasticRecycling.htm [Accessed 24 February 2015]. Pettigrew, A., 2013. The Awakening Giant (Routledge Revivals): Continuity and Change in Imperial Chemical Industries. New York: Routledge. Robertson, G.L., 2012. Food Packaging: Principles and Practice, Third Edition. 3rd ed. Florida: CRC Press. Stevens, E.S., 2002. Green Plastics: An Introduction to the New Science of Biodegradable Plastics. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press. Williams, P.T., 2013. Waste Treatment and Disposal. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Workplace Law Group, 2011. Health and Safety, Premises and Environment Handbook 2012. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Worrell, E. & Reuter, M., 2014. Handbook of Recycling: State-of-the-art for Practitioners, Analysts, and Scientists. New South Wales: Newnes. Zafar, S., 2014. Recycling of Plastics. [Online] Available at: http://www.ecomena.org/tag/plastic-waste-management/ [Accessed 25 February 2015]. Read More