As a valuable and finite resource, the optimum recovery route for most plastic items at the 'end-of-life' is to be recycled, preferably back into a product that can then be recycled again and again and so on. The UK uses over 5 million tonnes of plastic each year of which an estimated 24% is currently being recovered or recycled.
Plastics 2020 consortium - namely the British Plastics Federation (BPF), Packaging & Films Association (PAFA) and Plastics Europe - and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) will officially launch the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan (PIRAP) at the Plastics Recycling Expo (PRE) in Telford on 16 June 2015.
Claire Shrewsbury, Packaging Programme Manager, WRAP will share details of the Plastics 2020-led initiative 'PIRAP' for the first time. She will be joined by Plastics 2020 consortium members: Philip Law, Director General, BPF, Kim Christiansen, Regional Director North, Plastics Europe and Barry Turner, Chief Executive, PAFA.
"We believe that the plan will promote best practice and co-operation between all the relevant stakeholders to help delivering a sustainable recycling business sector in the UK, producing high quality products and additional jobs," Christiansen said.
WRAP has been working with Plastics 2020 and the wider plastics packaging supply chain to develop the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan. "I am pleased to say I will be joined by Plastics 2020 for the launch of the plan," Shrewsbury added. "The plan demonstrates the supply chains commitment to working towards achieving the plastics packaging targets and we would welcome others to offer their support."
PRE brings together key players from the plastics and recycling sectors in order to learn, network and capitalise on the business opportunities plastic recycling offers. Solutions for all parts of the supply chain will be covered from designing for recycling and influencing recycling habits to developing end-markets and sorting contaminated materials.