UK government invites consumers to take the plastic pledge

Consumers in the UK are being encouraged to take a pledge to recycle one more plastic bottle per week, as the British government gears up to meet its rigorous plastic recycling targets.

The new Pledge 4 Plastics campaign begins this September and is being supported by major businesses including Coca-Cola Enterprises, Marks & Spencer, Unilever, Nestlé and Veolia, as well as organisations such as Plastics Europe, WRAP and the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Local councils are also being encouraged to get involved. Overall, the government aims to double the volume of plastic packaging recycled by 2017 and reach a recycling rate of 42% (1.2m tonnes of plastic).

Run by plastics recycling organisation Recoup, Pledge 4 Plastics will seek to encourage consumers to pledge their support online, committing to recycle more plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays in the home. The primary focus will be on bottles, as almost all UK councils run kerbside collections for plastic bottles (versus 60% for pots, tubs and trays). The first thousand people to pledge are being offered the chance to win a limited edition mobile phone cover designed by TV presenter and designer Abigail Ahern and made from 80% plastic bottles.

Some 2.5m tonnes of plastic packaging are currently used in the UK each year, estimates Recoup, including 33m plastic bottles per day. While 7bn plastic bottles were collected from UK homes for recycling in 2012, 5bn were sent to landfill, it says, illustrating the significant potential to boost recycling rates.

“It’s always encouraging to see new consumer-focused campaigns raising awareness of the need to recycle plastic waste,” says Nigel Hunton, MBA Polymers’ CEO. “Importantly, Pledge 4 Plastics is opening people’s eyes to the new products that can be made from recycled plastic and helping to shed a light on what happens to an empty plastic bottle once it’s collected for recycling. Having a fuller picture of the story could really help to boost people’s understanding of why recycling is important.”

To find out more about using MBA Polymer’s high quality recycled plastics in new products, please contact us. For more information on the Pledge 4 Plastics campaign, click here.

How is China’s ‘Green Fence’ affecting the global recycling trade?

China’s ‘Operation Green Fence’ saw 55 scrap transactions and 7,600 tonnes of materials rejected in its first three months, according to a group of expert panellists including our own Mike Biddle, who took part in the Society of the Plastics Industry’s (SPI) recent ‘Green Fence’ webinar. The session explored the commercial effects of the legislation for recyclers in China and the US, and how recyclers are responding.

‘Operation Green Fence’ was introduced back in February 2013 to help stem the flow of contaminated, poor quality scrap from the US and Europe. China’s demand for low-cost recycled raw materials to fuel its colossal manufacturing industry had, until then, sparked a thriving global trade in scrap materials, with shipments from the US arriving thick and fast.

Chinese regulations had long banned excessive levels of contamination in imports of recyclables, but these had rarely been enforced. By forcing foreign companies to increase the quality of the waste they sell to China, the Chinese government aims to reduce the environmental damage being caused by hundreds of small scale Chinese firms recycling contaminated recyclables using unsound techniques that pollute the country’s waterways and damage air quality.

The ten-month ‘Green Fence’ initiative, due to end in November 2013, has set a limit of 1.5% of ‘allowable’ contaminant in each bale of imported recyclables. It includes random inspections of all forms of scrap, including metal, plastics, textiles, rubber and recovered paper materials.

So, how have the new legislation affected recyclers in China and the US?

The panellists indicated that far lower volumes of plastic scrap are currently being shipped to China from the US, and there is also widespread confusion as to whether Chinese customs or China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) are in charge. Apparently, there are reports of CCIC-approved containers being rejected by customs. Meanwhile, with some recyclable materials now in shorter supply, prices for these materials are rising, causing a financial strain for Chinese recyclers.

Challenges and opportunities for recycling America’s waste

Scrap was America’s top export to China by value in 2011 – worth $11.3 billion, according to US trade figures. In the same year, the US exported two-thirds of its 23 million tonnes of scrap to China, says the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). A lack of sufficient recycling facilities in the US to process the country’s recyclable waste and the lost cost of shipping e-waste to China had both favoured this approach.

Now, with stricter environmental laws being enforced in China, US recyclers have an opportunity to either sort recyclables more carefully, or recycle more material in the US, or both. This will require a wave of innovation and investment in recycling technology, such as MBA Polymers’ own world-leading plastics recycling techniques.

There is some evidence to suggest that recyclers in the US are already running recyclable waste through second sorting step (in the shape of optical sorters) in response to the new legislation. However, in the short term, some traders are also selling scrap to countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, where it is either reprocessed or simply sorted and cleaned to the new Chinese standards and then shipped on to China. In the worst case scenario, mixed paper and plastics waste is being sent to landfill as it cannot be sold to Chinese recyclers.

“China’s Green Fence offers a real opportunity to the US government and recycling industry to step up its efforts on recycling and catalyse a strong domestic recycling market in the US,” says Biddle. “In the long term, creating a sustainable recycling market at home will improve recycling rates, create jobs and boost the US economy.”

Collaborating to make Oxfordshire the top recycling county in England

The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership – now known as Recycle for Oxfordshire – has successfully doubled the Oxfordshire’s recycling rates in seven years, making it England’s top recycling county. By 2014, the county had reached a recycling rate of 60%, up from 33% in 2007. During this time, the partnership of six local councils has overseen the construction of two anaerobic digestion sites, as well as an energy recovery plant, and rolled out a new waste collection programme.

The councils involved are Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council. Each council retains responsibility for waste collection and treatment, while a joint communications programme is in place to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable waste management across the county.

“It’s great that people from six organisations, with different political and financial considerations come together to work towards a common goal of delivering the best possible waste management services,” says partnership co-ordinator Wayne Lewis.

Lewis highlights that when he first began work in local authority waste management in 1997, his council had a recycling rate of 6%. That same council now recycles more than 60%. While there has been significant investment since then in greener waste treatment systems, Lewis identifies the increase in landfill tax, which now stands at £80 per tonne, as a major factor in stimulating innovation in the sector.

With three of the district councils involved in the top ten for recycling in 2012, landfill waste levels in Oxfordshire began to creep back up the following year as recycling rates plateaued. This can be attributed largely to consumer behaviour, according to Lewis, and in particular, the ongoing challenge to encourage and promote recycling.

Encouraging people to ‘recycle one more thing’, through schemes such as the new Pledge 4 Plastics campaign, will help Recycle for Oxfordshire to keep awareness of recycling options high and inspire a responsible approach to waste.

The partnership will also continue to address food waste. Despite having introduced anaerobic digestion (AD) and in-vessel composting plants, food waste still makes up 20-30% of the county’s residual waste. Lewis and his colleagues aim to highlight how simple it is to recycle food waste, emphasising the benefits for the environment. He expects to see more AD plants built in the county in the future. Elsewhere, the partnership has also created a not-for-profit organisation, Bicester Green, to help encourage the reuse of old items. The charity accepts electrical items, bicycles and furniture for repair and resale, selling them through a local charity, Sobell House.

Lastly, Lewis believes the quality of the materials collected for recycling will become more important than sheer volumes recycled: “While local councils are still motivated by their recycling rates, there is a growing realisation that the materials we collect are commodities,” he says. “Better prices will be obtained for cleaner, higher quality materials. We’ll need to work with our collection contractors and MRF operators to ensure good quality.”

For more information on the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, please click here. To find out how MBA Polymers transforms municipal waste into high quality raw materials, please visit our website.

Carmakers step up their commitment to vehicle recycling with Rewarding Recycling

Car manufacturers including Toyota and Vauxhall have introduced pioneering new schemes for car owners to recycle their end-of-life vehicles (ELV). The Rewarding Recycling scheme, run by vehicle disposal expert Autogreen, offers motorists an opportunity to dispose of their vehicle in an environmentally sound manner. It is also helping manufacturers to increase their vehicle recycling rates ahead of the 2015 EU ELV target, which requires 95% of a vehicle to be reused, recycled or recovered (with a minimum of 85% to be recycled).

Motorists simply visit the Rewarding Recycling website, type in their registration and postcode and receive an instant quote. They can either take their vehicle to their preferred dealership, or it can be collected from their home, for free. Some manufacturers, such as Toyota, are also inviting owners to obtain a quote via their own websites. Once the vehicle has been handed over, the owner receives a PIN number to enter online, which generates a secure payment of the sum agreed, direct to their bank account.

The vehicle itself is collected for final disposal by Autogreen. The company dismantles it in line with UK and European standards, recovering reusable and recyclable materials and parts, and disposing of any waste responsibly. The steel is then shared with steel recycler EMR, while the automotive shredder residue (ASR) waste is currently shared with MBA Polymers for recycling. In future, non-plastics waste will be processed via a gasification plant. Autogreen has processed nearly 40,000 cars since October 2012.

“The Rewarding Recycling scheme provides a tangible, structured process for the disposal of end-of-life vehicles,” says Nigel Hunton, CEO, MBA Polymers. “This is exactly the type of scheme that’s need to boost vehicle recycling rates in the UK. It provides vehicle manufacturers with an opportunity to engage their customers in responsible recycling and assists with their own efforts to comply with European legislation and drive progress on sustainability.”

Autogreen is the approved vehicle disposal partner to numerous vehicle manufacturers, including BMW, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Suzuki, Toyota and Vauxhall. Participating in the scheme is helping carmakers to meet their sustainability goals and adopt a responsible approach to the product life cycle of their cars, from design concept to end-of-life recycling. It also offers an opportunity for car dealerships to engage positively with customers and build relationships.

“We’re increasingly seeing global car manufacturers step up and take more responsibility for the recycling of end-of-life vehicles,” says Paul Hillier, Director, Autogreen. “It’s a very encouraging trend and we’re delighted to be working in partnership with MBA Polymers to ensure that ASR waste can be accurately separated and safely recycled.”

For more on the Rewarding Recycling scheme, click here.

Innovative Think Beyond Plastic winners revealed

The winners of the Think Beyond Plastic innovation competition have now been revealed. MBA Polymers’ founder Mike Biddle was one of the expert judges and spoke at the recent Think Beyond Plastic conference in Berkeley, California. He and his fellow judges awarded the ‘Most innovative business idea’ to DGrade Clothing (UAE), a designer and producer of clothing made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles, and PulpWorks (USA), which manufactures sustainable packaging from post-consumer waste paper.

Amazi (USA), the maker of a digital phone app that helps consumers find clean water for reusable containers, BYOB (Malaysia), which offers bulk cleaning products and refill stations, and in.gredients (USA), a grocery store that avoids packaging by asking shoppers to bring their own containers, won ‘Most promising emerging business’.

Think Beyond Plastic invited entrepreneurs in early stage businesses to share examples of disruptive technologies and solutions for tackling the plastic waste crisis. To be in with a chance of winning, entries had to fall into one of three categories: supply chain and infrastructure, source materials and packaging, or products, services or business model innovations. All ideas had to be scalable, while entrants were required to demonstrate a viable business proposition and a keen focus on sustainability.

More than 100 entries were received, and the successful entrants were selected on the basis of their sound business ideas. The judges also considered whether the entry presented a novel solution to a problem that had yet to be addressed, its impact and scalability for a world market, and its ecological and financial sustainability. Additionally, they discussed how simple the solution would be to set in motion and carefully reviewed the company’s growth plan.

Biddle’s co-judges for the competition included Adam Werbach of Yerdle, Adam Lowry of Method, Julie Corbett of Ecologic and Eben Bayer of Ecovative. The ‘Most innovative business idea’ winners each received a $10,000 prize and $5,000 in legal services. Meanwhile, the ‘Most promising emerging business’ winners were presented with a cash prize of $500 from the Plastic Pollution Coalition, and a package of services from Second Line Impact Investors.

“Think Beyond Plastic was a great opportunity for entrepreneurs worldwide to showcase their cutting-edge ideas to a panel of recognised innovators and business experts,” says Mike Biddle, Founder, MBA Polymers. “We were impressed by the high quality of the entries and the commitment, passion and creativity of the entrepreneurs behind them. Many of these businesses will now need external investment to take their ideas to scale.”

Think Beyond Plastic was organised by the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a global alliance working towards a world free of plastic pollution and its harmful impacts on people, animals and the environment.

How is First Mile making recycling easier for companies in London?

UK company First Mile is helping city centre businesses to recycle more waste by making recycling easy and affordable. It currently services 15,000 businesses in 22 London boroughs, and has recently expanded to cover Birmingham. Using its own vehicle fleet, the company collects customers’ waste and provides a recycling report so that customers can keep track of their waste achievements. First Mile typically recycles 90% of the waste, sending the remaining 10% to waste-to-energy. Nothing is sent to landfill.

Customers don’t sign contracts, instead they simply order waste sacks and specify their preferred collection time. First Mile can also assess the company’s current waste output and make suggestions as to how they can recycle more for less. It also provides specialist services for electronic waste (WEEE), confidential paper, batteries, toners, food, and fluorescent tubes and light bulbs.

The First Mile recycling report gives a detailed 12-month summary of waste volumes collected and whether the waste was recycled, sent for anaerobic digestion or used for other waste-to-energy processes. A breakdown of the types of materials recycled is also included, as well as an overall recycling rate, volume of carbon emissions saved and the amount of energy produced.

The company donates £10 for every new customer and £2 per year for existing customers to the Small Steps charity. Small Steps raises funds to support people living on landfill sites around the world and improve their quality of life through both humanitarian aid and education.

First Mile has won a host of awards, including from the Guardian’s Small Business Network and letsrecycle.com, and has also been voted one of the top 25 Cleantech companies in Europe.

Keep up the good work, guys!

Technology Strategy Board aims to boost innovation in the UK with record £440 million funding

Innovative companies in the UK will have access to a record £440 million of funding this year as the Technology Strategy Board steps up its commitment to driving economic growth. The investment was confirmed in May 2013 by Universities and Science Minister David Willetts and represents an increase of more than £50 million year on year.

Technology companies stand to benefit most from the investment, which is intended to fund progressive initiatives including renewable energy, future cities, advanced materials, satellites, digital technologies and healthcare. Some 60% of the funding will be directed to SMEs.

“The UK has some of the most innovative businesses in the world,” said Willetts. “The £440 million budget means that there will be more funding available than ever before for companies across the country to bid for and help turn their ideas into reality.”

Working in close partnership with businesses, universities and government, the Technology Strategy Board helps firms to commercialise innovative ideas. Alongside the increased funding, it plans to help businesses overcome challenges such as access to finance, knowledge, skills and equipment. It also aims to create opportunities for UK innovators within global markets such as India, China and Brazil.

More than £300 million will be invested in innovative projects through 75 new competitions, while companies will also be able to access the funding through a wide range of tools and programmes.

Commenting on the news, the Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, Iain Gray, said: “Everything we do is driven by the desire to help UK business bring new ideas and technologies to market and so support economic growth.”

The Technology Strategy Board has since announced a further £10 million initiative to help businesses fast-track innovative low carbon vehicle projects.

MBA Polymers is currently working on a number of new projects with carmakers and others to help drive innovation in plastics recycling. To hear more about this, check out our new video.

California gears up to ban plastic bags

California may soon become the first US state to officially ban non-biodegradable plastic bags, if a new state Legislature bill gets the go ahead. Similar legislation exists in 100 Californian municipalities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. The new law would effectively consolidate this approach, creating a uniform, statewide position on plastic bags.

California’s governor, Jerry Brown, looks set to sign the bill by the end of September 2014. If he does, the law would come into play in July 2015, with grocery stores and pharmacies among the first to be affected. More durable, reusable plastic bags or paper bags could be sold at grocery stores, for a minimum of ten cents.

“Littered plastic bags are a real blight on the landscape and often end up in the ocean, harming marine life,” says Nigel Hunton, CEO of MBA Polymers. “It’s important that policymakers take a strong stance on limiting their use in order to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.”

Many plastic bag and paper bag producers have opposed the law, saying it will harm jobs and serve as a tax on consumers. In contrast, the California Grocers Association and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), a union that represents grocery workers, both support it. UFCW says it wants the money currently spent on plastic bags to be used for worker training and food safety initiatives.

To help pave the way for manufactures to shift toward producing reusable bags, the new legislation makes provision for some $2m in loans. Packaging company Command Packaging has already made a head start by retooling some of its machines in preparation for the ban, moving to create reusable plastic bags from recycled agricultural film used for wrapping crops.

Elsewhere in the US, bans are in place in Seattle and Portland, as well as most counties in Hawaii. In Europe, Italy passed a law banning non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2013. California has already proved its progressive stance on waste, with San Francisco banning the sale of plastic bottled water in city-owned properties and outdoor spaces earlier this year. The new plastic bag ban would be another step forward in the state’s journey toward sustainability.

To learn more about how plastic can be recycled into raw materials, please visit the MBA Polymers website.

Paying for train journeys with plastic bottles in Beijing

Beijing is taking a fresh approach to recycling by giving free train journeys and mobile phone top-ups to consumers in exchange for used plastic bottles. Machines in 34 locations take bottle deposits and calculate their worth, issuing a credit to the person’s mobile account or transit pass. Sensors scan the bottle’s weight and composition, and then prompt users to select an option.

“While this initiative may need to be significantly scaled to have a real impact, offering services in exchange for plastic bottles could play an important role in raising awareness of recycling and reinforcing the idea of waste as a commodity,” says MBA’s CEO, Nigel Hunton.

So will Beijing residents soon be using plastic bottles in place of cash to pay for their train commute? Watch this space!…

UN Global Compact seeks corporate support on post-MDG agenda

Chief executives from around the world will meet in New York this September (19th-20th) to take part in the UN Global Compact’s (UNGC) Leaders Summit. This is anticipated to be the most important of its summits to date and will be chaired by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

Entitled ‘Architects of a Better World’, the conference will provide the UNGC with an opportunity to present a new global framework for private sector action on sustainability and explain how business can contribute to sustainable development. And the timing is crucial, as the following week, the UN General Assembly convenes to create a plan of action to succeed the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

For its part, the UNGC has submitted a post-MDG ‘report on prospects‘ to Ban Ki-moon. The general consensus is that the post-MDG agenda should reinforce progress on social priorities like health, women’s empowerment and education, while expanding environmental goals and placing new emphasis on peace and stability, infrastructure and technology and good governance and human rights. The new targets may take the form of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’, as discussed at the Rio+20 Summit in 2012.

So, the upcoming Leaders Summit will aim to ensure that business is ready to contribute wholeheartedly to the new agenda and achieve progressive results at scale. Mechanisms for corporate action and multi-stakeholder partnerships will be central to the debate. Africa will also be in the spotlight, with a particular focus on jobs for youth, education, women’s empowerment and innovative financing.

The largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world

The UN Global Compact comprises 7,500 companies and 4,000 civil society organisations, making it the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world. The condition for participation is a voluntary but public commitment by businesses to uphold UN principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Companies are also required to report their progress on supporting these principles on an annual basis.

Writing in The Guardian, UNGC executive director Georg Kell says that harnessing global business as a force for sustainable development will require a robust business engagement framework. This should be designed to broaden the participation of companies, deepen commitments on core issues, upgrade partnerships and collective action, and strengthen capacity for implementation nationally and locally, he believes. Investors also have a critical role to play in advancing responsible investment and sustainable finance.

With increasing numbers of companies seeking to make a net positive contribution to society and the environment, the UN Global Compact is well placed to help by facilitating the creation of collaborative platforms, says Kell. It has already helped organised successful platforms on social and environmental issues, including the well-supported ‘Women’s Empowerment Principles’ and ‘Caring for Climate’.

Ahead of the Leaders Summit, the UN Global Compact has released its flagship Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2013. Based on survey results from 1,712 companies, the report features actions taken by companies to embed responsible practices.