Plastic recycling on the up
December 13, 2010 at 12:47 pm
With the bad weather and student protests dominating the front pages of the newspapers and providing us with news-flashes more than capable of dampening any festive spirit, it may seem that good news is at a premium at the moment. However, that generalisation simply cannot be applied to the recycling sector, which this week received a significant piece of good news.
The good news comes in the form of a report commissioned by Recoup, with the results of the study revealing that plastic bottle recycling in the UK has increased over the past year, with 45% of bottles now being processed by recycling facilities. The results of the report are based on responses from local authorities, with over 400 authorities initially contacted for data. The percentage represents a significant 7% increase on the figure for last year, causing Marcel Arsand, the project manager at Recoup, to state that the “plastic packaging collection scheme” has made rapid “progress” over the past 12 months or so.
The overall figures for plastic recycling over the past year make for impressive reading, with around 303,000 tonnes of plastic packaging collected for recycling, with 263,000 tonnes of this composed of plastic bottles.
However, there is no doubt that local councils need to make the lives of consumers far easier in order to boost the plastic recycling figure even more, with kerbside collections made more frequent and reliable and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of recycling plastics sure to be high on the agenda of those local councils with an eco-friendly approach.
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