WRAP to study the commercial value model of waste plastic recycling

About 14 million tons of plastic packaging waste is produced each year in the UK – including yoghurt cans, salad packs, and deli trays. And this figure grows at a rate of 2 to 5% per year. Although this accounted for only 9% of the mass of domestic waste, it occupies a large proportion of the volume of trash per capita.

WRAP is working on whether the recycling of these wastes is of commercial value and investigating which treatment methods are more environmentally friendly - such as burning or landfills. In particular, WRAP wants to see if these ordinary household wastes can be recycled to produce new products, which is more cost-effective than using new materials each time.

There is currently a "Catch 22" position because fewer and fewer local authorities are preparing to collect plastic waste instead of plastic bottles, because the recycling value of the former is lower for them. However, this will mean that companies that want to do this will have less of this plastic resource.

WRAP's research includes the classification of a variety of different plastics, which requires the analysis of various plastic technologies, operating cost estimates, and models of business value recovery. The study also included comparing the environmental impacts of different methods of treating the plastic waste, such as incineration or landfill. Research shows that in addition to being environmentally friendly, recycling is more economical than other approaches.

In short, landfill is the worst way to handle these plastic wastes. However, taking into account the factors of global warming, this study found that burning this kind of trash is the worst option. Because of the same amount of energy generated, burning such plastics will release more carbon dioxide than burning coal and natural gas.

Research shows that on average, the best environmental protection option is to invest in the development of a technology that produces high-quality recycled plastics, but in some cases already requires combustible solids (SRF). Therefore, it is wise to establish a comprehensive factory that can both take into account commercial interests and minimize environmental damage.