UK Plastics Pact 6 month mark: Inaugural meeting launches innovation competition, highlights achievements

17 Oct 2018 --- A US$1.8 million competition to support creative alternative solutions to plastics was launched at the inaugural annual meeting for members of The UK Plastics Pact, held in London. The competition forms part of the US$26 million Plastic Research and Innovation fund (PRIF) aimed at engaging Britain’s best scientists and innovators to help move the country towards more circular economic and sustainable approaches to plastics. The meeting also highlighted the achievements made by members of the pact six months in, towards its four targets (specified below).

Grants will be awarded under the UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects Competition to applicants who demonstrate creative business ideas to reduce the environmental impacts of plastic, and which bring greater circularity in the use of plastic.

The UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects Competition is open to any UK business with fresh ideas to tackle the issue of plastic waste. Grants will be awarded between US$130,000 and US$650,000 subject to match-funding, to support the piloting and evaluation with a view to wider implementation. Projects must be relevant to the four central criteria:

• to reduce the total volume of plastic waste arising from the UK;
• to significantly improve the rate of UK plastic recycling;
• to reduce levels of confusion amongst citizens; and,
• to reduce the amount of plastic ending up in the world’s oceans.

“The Plastics Research Innovation Fund brings the strength of UK Research and Innovation’s entire portfolio, from environment to technology to business to behavior and regulation, to bear on the pressing and very widely recognized problem of plastic waste. We are partnering with WRAP as experts in this sector, to join up our approach and support for the UK plastics and packing sector. The UK Circular Plastics Flagship Projects Competition launching today complements our recent funding calls by working with businesses to implement new ideas to achieve the targets set out in the UK Plastics Pact,” says Professor Duncan Wingham, Executive Chair, Natural Environment Research Council and PRIF lead for UKRI.

What has the UK Plastics Pact achieved in its first six months?
The UK Plastics Pact currently has 67 business members - including major players such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s – representing retail, manufacturing, hospitality, the plastic supply sector, plastic recycling and resource management. The pact has committed to a series of ambitious targets by 2025: 

• Target 1: Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use) delivery models.
• Target 2: 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
• Target 3: 70 percent of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted.
• Target 4: 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging.

Regarding these four targets, there have been some significant moves made by members of the pact.

Target 1: Eliminate single-use packaging
Asda and Morrisons are starting to remove some of the single-use packaging on their fresh produce ranges. Asda have removed the plastic from six million swedes, resulting in a 14 ton reduction of plastic. Morrisons are trailing the effect of removing plastic packaging from fresh fruit and veg in a number of their stores – replacing the single-use plastic bags with paper versions, and encouraging shoppers to bring their own plastic containers to the meat and fish counter.

Asda, Morrisons and Lidl have all removed plastic stemmed cotton buds from their stores, replacing them with paper or biodegradable alternatives.

Target 2: 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable
Recent findings estimated that a third of UK supermarket packaging was either difficult to recycle or nonrecyclable, highlighting the urgent need for change.

The majority of Quorn’s in-store packaging has changed from black to white or clearer alternatives, saving 300 tonnes of black plastic from entering the value chain each year.

Novamont has collaborated with the Co-op to create compostable dual use carrier bags, replacing its current 60 million single-use plastic carrier bags with an EN 13432 certified compostable alternative. After carrying shopping home, consumers are encouraged to reuse the bags to line food caddies which will be accepted by over 150 local authority food waste collection systems. Alternatively, they can be home composted.

Further moves included Lidl replacing all black plastic in its fresh produce range, replacing with recyclable alternatives, saving an estimated 50 tons of black plastic waste per year. Both Coca Cola and Highland Spring have made some of their packaging, including bottle caps and labels, 100 percent recyclable.

Target 3: 70 percent of packaging effectively recycled or composted
The instances of compostable packaging on the market are certainly increasing.

Some of The UK Plastics Pact members are encouraging customers to recycle by giving easy to access advice via an app and while ensuring packaging is as recyclable as possible. OPRL have developed 1) a handy app for consumers to check whether they can recycle packaging at a particular location, now piloting in Leeds; 2) an online design tool which advises whether the UK’s recycling infrastructure is likely to capture the materials and components in the recycling process.

Veolia has worked with local authorities to implement a closed loop solution, recycling 3,000 tons of single-use carrier bags into refuse sacks and delivering back to authorities.

Morrisons has installed reverse-vending machines for plastic bottles at two of its Yorkshire stores for a six-month trial, with a view to a wider rollout.

Target 4: 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging by 2025
This month, Ecover will begin trialling recycled plastic in its caps for the first time by introducing 50 percent post-consumer recycled polypropylene plastic in 200,000 of its caps in Europe in October 2018. Most caps are made from virgin polypropylene plastic. By starting to use recycled polypropylene, Ecover wants to help create an economic demand for recycling the material.

In 2017, Procter & Gamble launched the Fairy Ocean Plastic bottle made 100 percent from post-consumer recycled plastic and ocean plastic. Over 320,000 Fairy Ocean Plastic bottles were made with this material.

Aldi has saved 139 tons of virgin plastic per year by using 95 percent recycled plastic in its pasta pots.

By Laxmi Haigh