Flexible plastics collection program expands in UK amid policy delay uncertainties

21 Sep 2023 --- The Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF) FlexCollect project has initiated a trial for flexible plastic household collections and recycling in Reading, UK.

More than 4,000 homes will be involved in the pilot program, collecting flexible plastics such as chip packets, cling film and plastic bags. The trial will run until March 2025 and is expected to expand across the town and into other neighborhoods such as Wokingham and Bracknell.

The flexible plastic waste will be recycled by Re3, which handles waste in Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell Forest. The plastics will be converted into packaging, bags and boxes.

“Reading is the sixth of nine local authorities to take part in the FPF FlexCollect project, confirming this as the largest research project looking into how the UK will collect, manage and recycle post-consumer flexible plastic packaging at scale,” Gareth Morton, discovery manager at FPF, tells Packaging Insights.

“Given the myriad of different local authority collection services operating, we need to determine what ‘effective and efficient’ collections look like and how films and flexibles can be best integrated into current household recycling collections.”

National research
The FlexCollect project is backed and funded by the UK government.

“We’re almost halfway through the project timeline and have started six pilots covering around 20,000 households, with at least another three pilots to come. The project is budgeted to cost around £3 million (US$3.69 million), mostly funded by the FPF members, with around £750 thousand (US$924 thousand) provided by Defra, UK Research and Innovation smart sustainable plastic packaging and Zero Waste Scotland,” says Morton.

Collections of soft plastics across the UK are set to begin in 2027.The pilot in Reading is part of a three-year trial from 2022 to 2025 for conducting national research across nine councils in England. Residents in these areas currently recycle their flexible plastic waste at supermarket front-of-store collection points.

“[The FlexCollect project] is designed to inform policy work that is currently underway to implement EPR and will help shape the work of the EPR administrative body when they are appointed. It is essential to help pave the way to a smooth transition into EPR and the collection of this material across the UK,” adds Morton.

Creating collections
A round of expansions to all the pilots are due to begin this Autumn, and that’s where FPF expects to find out the real learnings that will come from operating at scale.

The data and insights provided will be published to help support local authorities in introducing new collections and help stimulate the development of end markets and domestic reprocessing infrastructure.

The FlexCollect project aims to develop “best practices” for recycling ahead of the introduction of consistent collections across the UK in 2027.

“We aim to do this by early 2025 and will shortly be releasing our project findings in an interim report, which will be published at the end of November 2023,” Morton tells us.

Navigating challenges
Morton explains that there are various challenges around flexible plastic collection and recycling.

In operations, he says working out the practicalities of how best to incorporate films and flexibles into each different local authority’s recycling collections is “complex and takes time and expertise.”

He continues that managing the material once it’s been collected and recycling it can pose challenges. Additionally, policy uncertainty, such as the EPR implementation delays, is “not helpful for planning ahead,” says Morton.

“It’s been a slow process, but all of these challenges are gradually being overcome, and that’s the point of the project – to understand the challenges so that they can more easily be addressed once widespread implementation starts.”

By Sabine Waldeck

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