British Polythene Industries (BPI) took advantage of a ministerial visit to warn that plastics recycling targets are “unachieveable”.
By 2017, the UK must recycle 57 per cent of its plastics under the new targets.
During a visit to the company’s extrusion line in Sevenoaks, Kent, by Business Minister Michael Fallon, BPI Films managing director Andrew Green took the opportunity to warn that the targets could lead to disproportionate costs to businesses.
He said: “We have absolutely no issue with stretching recycling targets. Indeed, as the largest recycler of polythene film waste in Europe, we actively support stretching recycling targets.
“Our concern with the new targets as set out by Defra is that they are unachievable. Having increased the amount of plastic waste we recycle as a nation by 500,000 tonnes in the last 13 years, these new targets require our industry to increase the volumes of plastic waste we collect and recycle by 600,000 tonnes within the next five years.”
