The Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan (PIRAP) was launched on June 16 by UK charity WRAP and Plastics 2020, an initiative led by the British Plastics Federation (BPF), the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) in the UK and Plastics Europe.
The plan provides a co-operative strategy for the plastic packaging supply chain to take action and contribute towards achieving the UK government’s target for obligated users – of 57% plastic packaging recycling by 2017.
PIRAP highlights a number of areas where improvements could be made to develop end markets for plastics recyclate, enhance collection rates, adopt best-in-class collection methods, optimize sorting infrastructure and design.
Philip Law, BPF’s Director General said, “Recycling is the absolutely essential component of the ‘sustainability story’. It’s a great achievement to secure an agreed document in an area which has become a political football. Plastics packaging recycling levels are a function of so many factors and the support of a very large number of organizations has to be harnessed to make significant progress.”
Kim Christiansen, Regional Director North PlasticsEurope added, “The proposed UK 2017 plastics recycling targets represent a great challenge to industry in taking it from a mid-performing to one of the top performing member states in Europe. To help rise to this challenge PlasticsEurope and its 2020C partners welcome the support of WRAP and Defra in helping us work with the value chain in order to drive the UK towards this goal”
“Despite the ink on the final document being barely dry I am pleased to see that so many stakeholders have come forward this looks promising for the next steps which need to focus on actions to support the achievement of these challenging targets,” noted Barry Turner, PAFA’s Chief Executive.
PIRAP was initiated by WRAP through consultation with different stakeholders, including national and local government, the waste management industry, obligated users, producers, converters and recyclers. Plastics 2020 then adopted the task of engaging with the different stakeholders to agree on different actions for commitment.
Claire Shrewsbury, Packaging Program Manager, WRAP, said, “It’s fantastic to see the Plastics Recycling Industry Action Plan launch with a wide range of supporters already signed up. To realize the full benefits of plastics recycling, and achieve the targets, the whole supply chain must work together to achieve a common outcome. The plan will drive this kind of collaboration and strengthen links across the entire plastics supply chain, ensuring more valuable plastic is recycled into second life applications.”
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