Plastics and the Environment: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

The reported environmental issues are primarily around what happens to discarded plastic. Whilst the UK collects a good percentage of plastic it does not recycle anywhere near enough. Waste infrastructure suffers from insufficient investment in Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for plastics sorting, meaning some materials are not recycled back into the value chain. Improved legislation and commitment b the Government to invest in MRFs is required, to enable modern society to recycle more. Ultimately consumers and society must bear some responsibility for packaging waste, after all plastics do not walk into the streets, rivers, seas and trees. We must educate consumers about reuse and recycling, and how best to recycle all materials, not only plastics. The current alternatives to Rigid Plastic Packaging bring their own challenges. The consideration must be if choosing to switch to a perceived better packaging material that we do not create other environmental problems. For example, if companies switch to cardboard based alternatives it is highly likely the board will have to be laminated in order to be food contact approved, to meet stringent food standards - and where will that be recycled? The UK has very few facilities to process this type of packaging. There needs to be a sensible debate on the type of packaging used. Charpak are firm believers in choosing the correct packaging for each product. Businesses and industries must design products and packaging for recyclability, assessing the full packaging lifecycle, and which includes it's overall environmental impact. It is very easy to jump on the anti-plastic bandwagon because of impactful negative headlines - but let's ensure we switch for the right reasons and not just for the positive PR that it generates in the short term. Paul Smith, Managing Director, Charpak Ltd

For more information on Plastics and the Environment: Reduce - Reuse - Recycle talk to Charpak Ltd