News

If the UK is the dustbin of Europe, China is its dustman. In 2007, the UK exported nearly 117,000 tonnes of plastic waste to mainland China and 340,000 tonnes to Hong Kong. HM Revenue and Customs puts the value of this trade at £81.1m, around one-third of the value of all exported plastic products to the two locations.

The Chinese government’s plan to halt the import of certain plastic wastes from the beginning of March so far appears to have had little impact – if indeed it has been implemented at all. But it has raised the issue of the UK’s dependence on export markets, particularly China, for disposing of packaging waste.

“China has allowed the UK to reach critical mass in terms of bottle collections, and helped develop infrastructure,” says Stuart Foster, senior project manager at Recoup, the plastics recycling advisory body.

Foster says there is high demand for plastic waste in China because of the high levels of manufacturing. “The Chinese can offer good prices for material because of the cost of production processes – their labour costs are low.”

However, the fact that it can be more profitable to export plastic waste can be exasperating for UK reprocessors, such as Suffolk-based Chase Plastics. Joint managing director Jessica Baker says the government is “running scared” of not meeting recovery and recycling targets, “instead of putting money back into UK reprocessing”.

Material shortfall
Because UK materials recovery facilities (MRF) are being designed with the export market in mind, the output is of a lower quality, regardless of whether it ultimately ends up overseas or in the UK. “It’s a shame. Those that have invested in UK reprocessing facilities are finding there’s not enough quality material coming out of the MRFs, even if they have the money to buy it,” says Baker.

The quality of recyclate is an issue picked up by David Tyson, chief executive of the Packaging and Films Association (Pafa). Tyson says concerns about the quality of UK waste have existed for some time and wants the government to take the lead in developing better infrastructure. “There’s always the problem of environmental concerns versus economic concerns, and it’s the economic concerns that have sucked the waste to China.”

Tyson is an advocate of not recycling all waste, because it is not always the best option in terms of the benefit to the environment. “We need to accept that some wastes should be used for energy, or else we’ll end up recovering things for environmental reasons, only to have the opposite effect.”

Incineration has had a bad reputation in the UK, but if China were to implement a full ban on plastic waste, ‘Energy from Waste’ (EfW) plants might get more support as a way of diverting waste from landfill.

However, Recoup’s Foster says: “We’d probably advocate recycling wherever possible, even if it is slightly more economical to generate energy. Only if it was a lot worse to recycle would we call for EfW.” Foster does admit, though, that if China were to extend a ban to all post-consumer plastics, “we’d need to get our fingers out”.

“Anything that increased UK reprocessing capacity would be good news,” says a spokesman for the Environment Agency, the organisation that polices packaging waste. “We have the legislation to divert waste from landfill, but we need the recycling capacity.”

The need to maintain quality as well as quantity could make it difficult for reprocessors to react quickly to a ban by the Chinese, particularly when MRFs are increasingly receiving unsorted waste from local authorities. “Companies would have to put in pre-sorting equipment, which is typically done by hand and, therefore, more expensive than in China,” says Chase Plastics’ Baker.

However, better quality recycling capabilities could be a boost to the UK. Bernard Chase, purchasing manager at Linpac Plastics Recycling, says that as long as China remains a powerhouse of manufacturing, “there’s bound to be a flow of materials in that direction”. “The question should now be in what form they flow – dirty, mixed and of low value, or good value and high quality. If we can do work here, we add value to the product here and can get paid more here.”

---

FEWER BOATS TO CHINA?
Concerns about a possible Chinese ban on imported low-density plastic waste for reprocessing, such as plastic bags, agricultural films and netting, were first aired in late February (Packaging News, March 2008). It was subsequently revealed that the ban would only apply to PE film products from post-consumer waste, reducing the quantity of material that would be affected.

The reason for the ban is unclear, but many believe China hopes to improve its image before this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games. David Tyson, chief executive of the  Packaging and Films Association, suggests: “China sees plastic bags high on the agenda and perhaps thinks it will be seen to be doing the right thing in tackling it.”

One of the great unknowns of the ban has been the effect on waste entering the country via Hong Kong, which is perceived to have less strict controls than the Chinese mainland. The former British colony receives almost two-thirds of the UK’s exported waste plastic. However, it is still unclear whether a ban has been implemented, and it has been suggested the rumour is due to a mistranslation of a Chinese document.

Main export markets for UK waste plastic, 2007
Volume, tonnes

Hong Kong: 339,868

Mainland China: 116,903

Europe: 43,260

Rest of Asia/Australia: 41,323