Tesco trials innovative recycling technology, establishes “closed loop” for all plastics

03 Apr 2019 --- UK supermarket giant Tesco has begun trialing the collection of difficult to recycle plastic packaging and recycling it through a new partnership with Recycling Technologies. The waste management specialist has developed and patented a process to turn waste plastic back into oil, Plaxx – a material which can then be used in the manufacture of new plastic. The move comes as part of Tesco’s efforts to make all of its packaging recyclable by 2025, creating a “closed loop” that prevents packaging from going to waste.

The trial runs across 10 Tesco stores in Swindon and Bristol from this week. Customers are able to return to trial stores everything from pet food pouches to shopping bags and crisp packets, all of which cannot commonly be recycled by local UK councils. The packaging will then be sent for recycling through Recycling Technologies’ new, state-of-the-art recycling process.

“Our trial with Recycling Technologies will make even more of our packaging recyclable and help us reach our target. This technology could be the final piece of the jigsaw for the UK plastic recycling industry,” claims Sarah Bradbury, Tesco’s Director of Quality.

“Using our specialist feedstock recycling process we keep more plastic waste in the economy and out of landfill and our oceans,” adds Adrian Griffiths, Recycling Technologies’ CEO. “This initiative with Tesco is designed to show there are solutions to recover this important material. Our goal is to double the UK’s capacity to recycle plastic waste by 2027.”

“Reducing and recycling plastics is such an important issue for us, for customers and for the future of our planet. That’s why we are working hard to reduce the amount of packaging in our stores and have committed that all remaining packaging will be recyclable by 2025,” Bradbury continues.

According to Tesco, 83 percent of its own label packaging is currently recyclable. Should this soft plastics collection be rolled out to all Tesco stores, it is estimated that it will be possible to recycle around 90 percent of Tesco’s own label packaging – the equivalent of 65,000 additional tons of plastic being kept within a “closed loop” system.

“Closed loop” recycling partnerships stack up
UK government recycling systems and infrastructure have been under intense scrutiny in recent months. This was epitomized by a recent UK think tank Policy Connect report which suggested that the country is lagging well behind European recycling standards.

“We really do not have adequate recycling infrastructure in the UK, so the government needs to provide more financial incentive to ensure waste is recycled domestically,” Trewin Restorick, Founder & CEO of environmental sustainability charity Hubbub, tells PackagingInsights.

Unlike local UK councils, Tesco can now recycle the likes of crisp packets and plastic bags using Recycling Technologies's “closed loop” systems.“I also think we have been very lax in looking at the quality of the recycling we collect – again, the UK lags very far behind other European countries in terms of collecting quality recycling material that can be of use to the industry,” he adds.

CPGs and retailers like Tesco are under intense public pressure to increase the sustainability of their packaging and the growing number of “closed loop” independent recycling partnerships suggests that faith in the efficacy of local council recycling has been lost.

Notable examples of the growing trend of independent “closed loop” recycling partnerships includes PepsiCo UK Walkers’ crisps packet recycling scheme partnership with TerraCycle; the Hi-Cone manufacturer of ring carriers for the beverage industry partnership with TerraCycle (the first non-branded company to enter such an agreement); and, similarly to the new Tesco partnership, a collaboration between Nestlé and resource management company, Veolia, which aims to collect, sort and recycle plastic material, with extra emphasis on flexible plastic packaging.

Tesco’s partnership with Recycling Technologies has been applauded by WWF for taking the initiative in the face of the plastic pollution crisis. “It’s great to see Tesco running this innovative trial, looking for new ways to make it easier for customers to recycle plastic materials which would usually go in their waste bins,” says Paula Chin, WWF UK’s Sustainable Materials Specialist.

“From our local beaches to the remote Arctic, plastic is choking our oceans and killing wildlife. Eight million tons are dumped into our seas every year – killing turtles, fish, whales and birds. While we can all do our bit by reducing the plastic we buy and embracing reusable items, we need producers, businesses and governments to face their responsibilities too,” Chin notes.

The trial follows Tesco’s announcement last week of another trial aimed at removing packaging from fruit and vegetables “wherever a loose alternative exists”. A total of forty-five packaged foods will be taken out of stores in Watford and Swindon and customers will see fruit and veg including varieties of apples, mushrooms, peppers, onions, bananas and avocados free from their packaging.

Last year, Tesco made strides towards its ambition for a “closed loop” packaging system, sharing its intention to stop packing products in the hardest to recycle materials by the end of 2019.

Incentivizing action, improving infrastructure
In response to intensified scrutiny over national recycling levels, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced plans to implement a tax on plastics containing less than 30 percent recyclate. DEFRA also plans to introduce an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, which will make producers responsible for the cost of recycling and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for cans and bottles. The UK government will elicit industry opinions on its plans for a period of 12 weeks, closing on 13 May 2019.Tesco recently announced that it will remove packaging from fruit and vegetables “wherever a looser alternative exists.”

“I’m quietly optimistic about the new raft of measures that have just been proposed by DEFRA,” Rob Thompson, Packaging Technologist at Co-op, tells PackagingInsights. “The proposed mandate of ambitious targets for recycled content and use of funds raised to build more UK recycling plants, improve on-the-go collection and invest in R&D to find a solution for the recyclability of residual plastics, is something we would support.”

However, not all industry responses to the announcements have been entirely positive. For example, while Barry Turner, Plastic & Flexible Packaging Group Director for the British Plastics Federation (BPF), supports the introduction of EPR, he is wary of a plastics tax since there is no way to guarantee the funds will be reinvested in the UK waste industry.

“Through the EPR system, there are proposed incentives to drive more sustainable applications right across the supply chain, which we hope will encourage best design and optimize the use of material. It should reduce waste and drive up recycling rates and the BPF looks forward to participating in that,” Turner tells PackagingInsights.

“However, we would prefer to see this EPR scheme rather than a tax on plastics if we are brutally honest. Our concern with the approach of a tax is that it may not all be reinvested in the system and we desperately need to build up the recycling infrastructure in the UK,” Turner adds.

By Joshua Poole