The UK could soon be filling warehouses with used crisp packets and other flexible plastic, a key body has warned.
The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) said this country lacked the infrastructure to recycle the material once its collection from households is enforced.
Kerbside collection of plastic bags and films will become mandatory from 31 March 2027 under the government’s Simpler Recycling policy.
And a report published earlier this month found that up to 200,000 tonnes of flexible plastic waste could be gathered from households annually by the start of next decade.
NLWA chair Clyde Loakes said: “Unless the production of flexible plastics is greatly reduced in tandem with investment in infrastructure, much of the flexible plastic collected from people’s homes will end up in a warehouse or on a container ship somewhere.
“The government and business must step up to prevent disillusionment among the public, which may end up negatively impacting their overall recycling efforts.”
The authority called for extra funding for councils to provide flexible-plastic collections; new requirements to include recycled material in new products; and reform of the packaging-recovery-note system.
Loakes added: “Mandatory recycling collections should not give producers a green light to flood the market with more flexible plastics. They must redesign packaging, cut volumes and move to more sustainable alternatives.”
