Closing the loop for plastics
26 June 2008
In my last blog I talked about the work we're doing to help find a way of recycling all those mixed plastics that lurk in our waste bins - the films, plastic trays, yoghourt pots etc.
It's a busy time for plastics.
Today I'm going to the opening of a plant in Dagenham which will take mixed plastic bottles (HDPE and PET), separate them and then convert the different types of plastics back into food grade material which can be used to make new bottles and new food packaging. The reason this is so important is that food grade plastic is high quality and it's also closed loop (for example, old milk bottles back into new milk bottles). No longer is plastic recycling just about turning old plastic into low value applications such as park benches and bollards - those are worthy applications but let's use low quality plastics that can't be used for high value applications to do it.
There are plans to invest in a number of plants around the UK that will produce food grade plastics from recycled bottles. I think this is a very positive development because it means that we will increasingly be able to buy products that are packaged in recycled material - that means less oil will have been used in the first place and there will also be lower carbon dioxide emissions from the recycling process than from the production from virgin materials. Good news all round.
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- |Recycling |Investment |Reprocessing |Commitment |Plastics |Recycling
