Flexible Plastic Fund launches UK’s “most extensive” recycling collection pilot scheme

12 Oct 2022 --- UK councils Cheltenham and South Gloucestershire are trialing curbside collections for flexible plastic packaging under the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF) FlexCollect project. 

Launched last May, FPF FlexCollect is the most extensive pilot for household collection and recycling of flexible packaging to be undertaken in the UK. Up to nine councils are to participate voluntarily in the three-year project. 

PackagingInsights sits down with Gareth Morton, project manager for the FlexCollect project, to discuss the project’s implications on the country’s recycling infrastructure and the challenges to be expected. 

“It [the project] will have profound implications for the UK as a whole as the information we generate will feed into Defra’s ongoing work on the implementation of extended producer responsibility.”

“We will understand how much flexible plastic we’re likely to collect from householders in the future and its composition. This is information that will inform investment decisions in the future UK sorting and recycling infrastructure,” asserts Morton. 

“This is a collaborative endeavor by a wide partnership of organizations with a critical interest in the outcomes, and we’re looking forward to working closely with everyone over the next three years to build an understanding of how the UK is going to not only collect but also recycle flexible plastic packaging once EPR is introduced” he adds.

The plastic waste will first be stockpiled and recycling will begin next year.Project phases
Cheltenham Borough Council already launched trial collections on 7 October 2022 while the South Gloucestershire pilot collections will begin on 17 October 2022 with approximately 2,000 selected households from parts of Bradley Stoke, Chipping Sodbury, Alveston and Olveston, A pioneer phase to kick off. 

The project will run in two phases. South Gloucestershire Council and Cheltenham Borough Council are now part of the pioneer phase which involves a series of innovative flexible plastics household collection and recycling pilots across four local authorities. 

The second phase will see five more local authorities joining the project in 2023 to build on the gained knowledge, says Ecosurety.

Morton notes that there are many challenges that the project will have to overcome. Those might be behavioral, physical, technological or financial. 

“The FlexCollect project is setting out to explore all these challenges (along with others) to understand them and work out the solutions. We don’t know all the answers yet which is why this project is so important,” he says. 

Collaborative effort
Morton says that based on previous research, incentives for consumers to make use of the curbside recycling facilities provided by the project are not needed.

“We don’t currently plan any [incentives] as, based on previous trials, the public is very keen on recycling their flexible plastic and the convenience of a doorstep collection appears to be enough. It’s one of the things we are looking at though.”

Morton says the public is keen on recycling their flexible plastic. Image Credit: Ecosurety.Thomas Merry, technical development manager at Suez recycling and recovery UK adds: “A great deal of work by all partners has gone into getting these first collections off the ground in Cheltenham and South Gloucestershire and we see local residents embracing the opportunity to recycle more of their plastic packaging.

The FPF FlexCollect project is co-funded by the Flexible Plastic Fund, Defra, UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge, RECOUP, Zero Waste Scotland, and some of the UK’s leading manufacturers. The pilot is run by Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, Ecosurety, WRAP and RECOUP.

Stockpiling before recycling 
Morton continues by explaining that the initial pilot areas are quite small (1,000 – 2,000 households) so the project partners will be stockpiling the material until they have sufficient material to conduct recycling trials. 

“Extensive research has already been carried out into recyclers of flexible plastic and we will be exploring various options for the material that’s collected. At the moment, we don’t anticipate doing any actual recycling of the flexible plastic until the middle of next year.”

Trudy Harrison, the UK’s resources and waste minister, says: “We know consumers want to do the right thing and these two local authorities are leading the way in ensuring more plastic film and flexible packaging is recycled.

Harrison continues by saying the project builds on the government’s plans for major waste reforms which will boost recycling rates and create jobs in the waste management sector – driving [environmentally] sustainable growth for the economy.”

“While the government finalizes the details of its waste reforms, the pilot is gathering valuable insights that will ease the way for the widespread roll-out of collections of flexible plastic packaging, which will not only help to increase our recycling rate but also help to decarbonize our residual waste,” highlights Merry. 

“We will be sharing insights with project stakeholders regularly and will release information more widely as and when we can. There will be an interim project report published in November 2023 and a final report in May 2025,” concludes Morton. 

By Natalie Schwertheim

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