Earlier this week the latest packaging waste data was published, which showed a problem in the plastics packaging sector. The data showed glass is set to meet its 2015 recycling target with relative ease and the aluminium sector after a difficult first half of the year.
Plastic packaging recycling has now emerged as a problem area in the light of weaker demand from China for material and also because of the failure of some plastics recycling businesses in the UK. The provisional data showed that 197,249 tonnes of plastics packaging were recycled in third quarter. That equates to 61% being exported, while around 39% stayed in the UK for recycling.
Businesses within the Plastic sector are still thought to believe that plastics packaging would be better burnt but this view is unlikely to win the argument. There is little sign that the government will change the system despite the protests of the plastics sector. Should plastics continue to be behind in terms of performance in 2015, then the value of the plastic PRN will continue to soar.
A high PRN value for plastics is likely to be welcomed by some in the sector of waste management, as they have invested in plastics sorting facilities and have faced lower values for the product produced because of a weaker market.
The aluminium packaging sector are celebrating as the third quarter of 2015 showed that reported aluminium packaging recycling recorded its highest ever quarterly performance at 23,330 tonnes. This is down to the direct result of adjustments made to the accreditation process, following lower than expected tonnages in Q1 and Q2, and increasing volumes of aluminium packaging recovered from incinerator bottom ash (IBA) being reported through the system. An estimated 18,800 tonnes is required in the final quarter to achieve the 2015 recycling target.
Until the final quarter’s data is published, the game between the sellers and buyers has now commenced.