The British plastics recycling NGO Recoup has identified a sizable gap in the UK's plastic recycling infrastructure. Based on figures it compiled for its 2022 UK Plastic Packaging Sorting & Reprocessing Infrastructure report, the group estimates recycling infrastructure must grow five times for household-like plastic packaging and nine times for food-grade plastic packaging. Only then would the UK have enough domestic capacity to recycle sufficient material to meet anticipated demand.
In making its estimate, the group mapped British recycling facilities and researched their operational capacities. It then compared that available capacity with the amount of recycled plastic packaging that would be needed to hit "the benchmark set by the plastic packaging tax". Since April of this year, the UK has imposed a tax of £200/tonne (ca. €230/t) on plastic packaging with less than 30 per cent recycled content....
