UK election: Major party manifestos spotlight plastic waste crisis signaling gravity of public concern

29 Nov 2019 --- The UK’s December General Election will inevitably center on Brexit, but another policy issue growing in significance is the global plastic waste crisis and the UK’s role in it. This is evidenced by the fact that the UK’s three major parties – Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats – have all bolstered their manifestos with strategies to improve plastic waste management. For example, all three parties have pledged to end the export of plastic waste while the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and investment in recycling infrastructure are also being promised.

The Conservative party pledges to “ban the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries, consulting with industry, NGOs and local councils on the date by which this should be achieved.” Labour simply states that it will “end exports of plastic waste,” whereas the Liberal Democrats go a step further by setting a date of 2030 to achieve this ambition.

The significance of bans on plastic waste exports is illustrated by Lisa Kuch, Head of International Climate, Energy & Agriculture Programme for the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “The UK alone has exported almost 430 kilotons of plastic waste in 2018,” she tells PackagingInsights. “As many South-East Asian countries are following China in restricting their plastic waste imports, the UK and other exporting countries are now obliged to find more local solutions.”

“The bans in the UK party manifestos are therefore a strong signal for growing awareness that profound changes in handling waste and real political momentum are urgently needed. Cities and countries are imposing bans, fees and other restrictions on single-use packaging in an effort to force producers to change their business practices.”The Liberal Democrats want to eliminate plastic waste exports by 2030, but when the UK currently exports 67 percent of its low-grade plastics, is it just a pipe dream?

When China announced its import ban in April 2018, University of Georgia, US, researchers estimated that it could see an estimated 11 million metric tons of waste displaced by 2030. China was the “dumping ground” for more than half of the world's trash before the ban and, at its peak, was importing almost nine million metric tons of plastic scrap a year, according to Greenpeace.

India also banned the import of plastic waste, making it the latest waste disposal giant to close its doors to international recycling problems.

The issue has since escalated further after 187 countries voted to add hard-to-recycle plastic waste to the Basel Convention, a UN-led treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste from one country to another. Dr. Mikko Paunio of the University of Helsinki has warned that the UN’s decision to regulate waste plastic as hazardous and restrict exports will unleash a “surge of waste” in many EU countries.

UK packaging expert Neil Farmer tells PackagingInsights that the problem of plastic waste exports to Asia and Eastern Europe is a major issue for the UK because its infrastructure for recycling is way behind countries such as Germany and Norway. “These countries have systems that are proven, tried and tested. The UK’s is incomplete, fragmented and suffering from lack of investment in infrastructure.”

Although Farmer applauds the Liberal Democrats target to eliminate plastic waste exports by 2030, he questions how this can be achieved when the UK currently exports 67 percent of its low-grade plastics. “To get this figure down to zero by 2030 will take some doing and greater investment in infrastructure and recycling technology will be needed, which doesn’t come cheap.”

Investment in the circular economy
The Labour Party pledges to invest in a new plastic remanufacturing industry to drive the use of recycled content in packaging and create new jobs. “In government in Wales, Labour has transformed the position of recycling, placing them in the top five globally for recycling rates,” the manifesto reads.

Farmer remains unconvinced. “The Labour proposal to invest in three new giga-factories and four metal reprocessing plants is going to be costly, and I question whether Welsh Labour has transformed the position of recycling and, in so doing, placed Wales in the top five globally for recycling rates. This is certainly not reflected in the figures for the rest of the UK.”Boris Johnson's Conservatives want to “continue leading the world in tackling plastics pollution,” but many feel the government is failing on plastic reduction targets.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats will aim to drive a circular economy for packaging by banning non-recyclable single-use plastics and replacing them with affordable alternatives, extending DRSs for all food and drink bottles and containers and establish a statutory waste recycling target of 70 percent in England.

For Farmer, the Conservatives appear to offer a more balanced approach. “The levy to increase the proportion of recyclable plastics produced is something already in their government environmental proposals, as is the introduction of a DRS.”

The Conservatives also plan to introduce EPR so that producers “pay the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce and boost domestic recycling.”

Conversely, the Liberal Democrats claim that the Conservative Party is “not on track to meet the UK’s climate targets and are dragging their feet on reducing the use of plastics.”

Not a plastics problem per se
For many, the plastic waste crisis is a waste management issue as opposed to a problem with the material itself. A 2018 US and Canadian study into the environmental effects of plastics found that plastics are more sustainable than material alternatives in terms of energy use, water consumption, solid waste, greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion, eutrophication and acidification. Last week, global plastic packaging giant Amcor launched a “Choose Plastic” marketing campaign to educate consumers, customers and other stakeholders on the benefits of PET packaging.

Is the political and public plastic fervor detracting from the net environmental benefits of plastics and are the major political parties doing enough to provide the complete picture? “No, the political parties do not do enough,” says Farmer. “They realize that the environment is a big issue for the electorate, particularly after the TV program Blue Planet 2. Media coverage over the last two years has only heightened this, but there is a lack of balance in the debate and discussion.”The “B” word: Brexit may well escalate the UK's recycling problems further, experts warn.

“The benefits of plastics packaging with good barrier properties to extend product shelf-life and reduce waste have been totally overlooked. ‘Good’ plastics, efficiently produced and with great performance characteristics, can actually help the environment.”

The main environmental focus for the UK should be to increase its domestic recycling infrastructure, Farmer stresses. “The government needs to inform and educate the public about the correct way to dispose of packaging and get rid of the scourge of on-the-go littering. Educate, inform, invest and manage would be my mantra for the next government.”

And on the issue of Brexit? Farmer laments that in the medium to long-term, collaboration in plastic packaging technologies, investment and recycling will suffer as a result of the UK’s pending exit from the European Union.

By Joshua Poole