Only a third of plastic food packaging can be recycled, councils say
Only a third of the plastic in packaging pots and trays for food can be recycled, local authorities have said.
Town hall chiefs urged manufacturers to scrap the “smorgasbord” of plastics used to package foods from fruit and vegetables to yoghurt, margarine and microwave meals to help cut waste and increase recycling.
Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) suggests housholds use 525,000 tonnes of plastic pots, tubs and trays a year. nly 169,145 tonnes can be recycled, however, leaving two-thirds bound for landfill or incineration.
The LGA said councils had done all they could to tackle plastic waste, with 99% of local authorities collecting plastic bottles for recycling and 77% picking up pots, tubs and trays.
Packaging for food can be made from a variety of polymers, the molecules which make up plastic, which need to be separated out to remove low-grade and non-recyclable types of plastic such as polystyrene. Some packaging uses different plastics such as the body and lid of a yoghurt pot, while fruit and vegetables punnets are made from three types of polymer, and microwave meals are contained in black plastic which cannot be easily sorted.
Posted by admin
on Aug 5 2018. Filed under News at Now, No Plastic.
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