UK plastic recycling rate not on track

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) pushes the initial target of 70% recycling and reuse back five years to 2035.

The data comes from the revised BPF’s Recycling Roadmap.

The first roadmap, created in 2021, set a target of 69% by 2030.

With the publication of the new roadmap, many of the required changes listed previously still have not happened.

The roadmap has the latest UK data for plastic recycling and up-to-date forecasts of what the UK can achieve over the next decade.

The amount of material chemically recycled within the UK by 2030 is indicated as 200Kt lower than the first roadmap indicated, although the document notes that 400Kt of chemically recycled material can be possible by 2035.

To achieve this the BPF stress the importance of:

• Increasing investment
• Optimising legislation and existing systems
• Improving communication and collection systems