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IES Webinar: Good plastic, bad plastic?

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Good Plastic, Bad Plastic? Julie Hill IES Webinar 9 th November 2017
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Page 1: IES Webinar: Good plastic, bad plastic?

Good Plastic, Bad Plastic?Julie Hill IES Webinar 9th November 2017

Page 2: IES Webinar: Good plastic, bad plastic?

What I’d like this session to do:

• Give a sense of the dilemmas we have in shaping the future of plastics

• Introduce Green Alliance and WRAP work to explore the potential future of plastics

• Pose the research questions that fall out of that work

• Learn your views

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Q: When was the first synthetic plastic invented?

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Plastic – the new kid on the block

1907: Bakelite1912: Cellophane1926: PVC1930: Neoprene1931: Victrolac (Vinyl for records)1933: Polyethylene1935: Nylon1938: Teflon1941: PET1950: Polyester1951: Polypropylene1954: Expanded polystyrene1960s: HDPE bottles start to replace glass1965: Kevlar

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What’s good about plastic?

• Comes in many different types

• Can take a huge variety forms

• Can be endlessly combined

• Durable

• Light and easy to transport

• Cheap

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What’s bad about plastic?

• Comes in many different types

• Can take a huge variety forms

• Can be endlessly combined

• Durable

• Light and easy to transport

• Cheap

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So what should we do with plastics?

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WRAP and the circular economy

A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.

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A circular economy preserves economic

and environmental value

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Dilemma: recover or degrade?

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Source: Plastic Europe, Berlin, August 2016

European recycling rates

Growing plastic demand

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Q: Roughly what % of plastic is recycled in Europe?

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‘10 things you didn't know you can recycle’

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Improving recovery rates in UK in future likely to hinge on:

• Less confused consumers

• Greater emphasis on including business waste

• Smaller range of plastics, to increase scale

• Less mixing of types, to get purer streams

• ‘Market pull’ – demand for recycled content

• Greater rate of re-use (perhaps deposit schemes)

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Concluded that biodegradable plastics ‘would not bring about a significant decrease in either the quantity of plastics entering the ocean or the risk of physical and chemical impacts on the marine environment’.

Because:

- Most are designed to degrade in industrial conditions, with higher temperatures

- Those easily degrading (eg used for fishing tackle) only useful for specific applications

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What about packaging? Would it help to

make it biodegradable?

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Criteria for Compostable Packaging (2010)

• Material should not cut across or disruptestablished recycling streams for conventionalplastics• Material needs to be easily recognisable ascompostable• The logic of its use needs to be evident, andaligned with consumer expectations• Ideally the material should be home compostable

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The WRAP perspective

• Still a lot of fundamental science to be done on degradation in a range of environments – warm and cold.

• Most biodegradeable plastics need oxygen to degrade, so it does not work well in anaerobic digestion (AD).

• No standard that covers biodegradability in all environments.

• Waste valorisation is a key goal – monomers that can find a market in new products.

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Dilemma: How to get futureplastics to go in the right direction?

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Bioplastics: circular economy potential?

Bioplastic Superior recyclability (depolymerisation)

Waste feedstock Biodegradable?

Polylactic acid (PLA)

Polyethylene Furanoate(PEF)

Polyhydroxyalkanoate(PHA/PHB)

Polyvinylalcohol(PVA/PVOH)

Polybutylene succinate(PBS)

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Some research questions

Technical:

• Possibilities for utilising bio-wastes for plastic feedstock

• Making biodegradation work in a range of environments

• Reducing the number of polymers in play while retaining functionality

Market:

• Economic ways of producing monomers from secondary plastics that can find a market in new products.

Behavioural:

• Effective messaging to consumers and businesses that ensures plastic materials are sent down the right route

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Thank you – look forward to questions and views.

[email protected]

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Questions askedQuestion Answer

Why do authorities never use the number system for

recycling?

The numbers indicate what the material is, but not whether the local authority has an

available means of recycling it, hence the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) initiative:

http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/pack-recycling-label

Most plastic recycling labels are very small & hard to

read. If they are made much larger and clearer would

this help consumers?

The On-pack Recycling Label scheme was designed to address this problem, and all

feedback welcome: http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/pack-recycling-label

Should biodegradable plastics be collected with other

plastics for recycling and then sorted to go down right

route or would biodegradable plastics be collected via

another route?

This might be physically possible, but the extra transport and kit might make it

economically unviable.

Demand for secondary plastics seems to be a

challenge - manufacturers only really want PET or

HDPE ... what can be done to increase demands for

secondary materials in plastics?

Demand fluctuates for all secondary plastics. Getting consistent good quality in the

secondary materials is a key factor, and that goes back to improved collection

methods and sorting. Suggestions for ways to boost demand have included a

voluntary or mandatory level of recycled content in packaging (eg Coca Cola’s

commitment to using 50% secondary PET – see http://www.coca-

cola.co.uk/newsroom And/or a levy on packaging that isn’t recyclable, or doesn’t

include recycled content.

Plastic bags a few years ago, straws are rightfully in

the firing line at the moment , what's the other low

hanging fruit

There has been talk of taxing single use plastics such as coffee cups and drinks

bottles.

The isssue with ocean plastics appears to be getting

so acute the problem will not wait for better recycling

routes. Any ideas on how to tackle ocean plastics?

Green Alliance has some suggestions: http://www.green-

alliance.org.uk/marine_plastics.php

also the UN: https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/ and the Ellen

MacArthur Foundation: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/

Will Brexit change plastic recycling regulations/

opportunities

The UK may or may not be subject to the EU’s forthcoming Circular Economy

Package, depending on the timing, but I would hope that we would want to do well on

re-use and recycling anyway, because of the great economic and jobs benefits to be

had in establishing new UK businesses. See www.green-alliance.org.uk/employment

With China stopping import of plastic waste, will

Europe upgrade their infrastructure to recycle more or

just send it somewhere else?

This probably depends on the economics, but clearly it is a great potential opportunity

to upgrade the recycling and establish UK infrastructure.


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