Recycling is considered one of the classic goals for achieving sustainable waste management system. The process can prevent an enormous amount of virgin production which can save considerable energy, reduce emission of greenhouse gases and depletion of raw material. The method used to accomplish recycling of plastics in the United Kingdom can be classified as household/domestic and industrial. The domestic recycling is often geared towards encouraging people to recycle plastic materials in their homes achieved through awareness and regulation campaigns. Household recycling is reinforced through fine imposed on individuals that do not cut their domestic waste. At the same, the goal emphasizes collection and separation of the different recyclable materials. In 2015, approximately 44.3% of the plastics were recycled with an increase of 235% in household recycling translating to over 11.6 million tones of plastics materials. Further, countries in the United Kingdom are geared toward using industrial recycling. Commercial plastic makes the largest portion of waste in the United Kingdom. In 2015, approximately 48 million tonnes were generated as compared to 67.9 million tonnes in 2002. The industrial recycling uses both the mechanical and chemical processes.
Problem Definition
Recycling of plastics materials in the United Kingdom remains a challenging area for waste management industry. The issue arises from the fact that the current and potential goal proposed by the European Union is difficult to attain or partially fulfilled. More specifically, the quality of plastic recycling is significantly affected by several problems: the presence of additives, polymer cross-contamination, and degradation. Deprivation of the quality of plastic recycling has been happening through the value chain. Further, approximately 74% of the consumer plastic waste in the United Kingdom is either landfilled or incinerated, and although quantitative targets are set on both regional and state levels, they do take into consideration the quality of recycles materials. More importantly, there is even lack of concise definition of plastic recycling in the UK leading to contradiction interpretation among the consumers. Additionally, the consumer plastics are usually composed of different polymers and their recyclability and contamination resilience different greatly. A study performed by Pivnenko, Jakobsen, Eriksen, Damgaard, and Astrup (2015) compared recycling efficiency in four scenarios and revealed that each achieved only 4.6%. None reached the potentially proposed baseline. However, with proposed mechanisms in places, the authors show that the UK can reach up to 68% to 86% efficiency (Pivnenko et al., 2015, p. 212) As such, there is a huge gap concerning the barriers that limit quality recycling processes in the United Kingdom.
Identifying Key Issues
One of the primary challenges in achieving quality recycling in the UK is the different method used. While the country depends on both the chemical and mechanical industrial recycling techniques, the chemical methods still face considerable which explains what full-scale plants seldom in the countries (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). Chemical or feedstock recycling although considered safe for recovery of materials, the strategy is costly as compared to mechanical. At the same time, it is energetically less favourable and requires a high level of subsidies as result of low prices of petrochemical as compared to the high cost and processes involved. Therefore, the issue has lead to lack of sufficient recycling plants.
Another challenge lies in the various steps of consumer recycling: collection, sorting, cleaning, size reduction, separation, and compatibilization to reduce contamination. The collection process is often accomplished through “bring schemes” which often result in a low rate of collection, particular, as result of lack of commitment behaviors from the public (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). Also, the collection of used household plastic materials is commonly more economical in suburbs that are densely populated as they allow companies to achieved economies of scale. Further, the collection schemes vary in the locality, for example, some local authorities in the UK resort to using “bring banks,” but the methods are ineffective in offering a high rate of collection of the post-consumer plastic wastes. Additionally, most of the local authorities in the United Kingdom are not involved actively in the post-consumer flexible packaging because they are deficient in equipment (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). Further, the traditional sorting process is usually restricted to separating colored flakes and materials with distinct physical properties, for example, density. The mechanism has been insufficient in sorting the different polymer which further reduces the quality of recycling in the UK.
Effective recycling of mixed plastics waste is another notable challenge facing the plastic recycling sector. The advance of the method is that it allows recycling of a large amount of plastic waste. However, a huge amount of the regular packaging material even if collected cannot be recycled effectively. In particular, the challenge arises from the current policies. The regulation used in the UK has significant importance on the recycling performance by promoting the use of increased proportion of packaging that cannot be recycled.
Economic dynamics involved in the post-consumer collection schemes present considerable challenges in the plastic recycling process. The post-consumer collection techniques utilized in the different regions are rigid packaging (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). Most recycling companies depend on this method because flexible packaging is problematic during sorting stages. Therefore, current recycling facilities encounter difficult in handling flexible plastic packages as result of their distinct rigid characteristics (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). The low weight to volume ration of the plastics materials makes the technique less economically viable, and most companies are not willing to invest in the collection and sorting facilities.
Generating Solutions
The household collection can be improved by encouraging committed public behaviors through a deposited refund scheme. The strategy is useful as it works through offering a direct economic incentive to the participants. The mechanism can lead to overall 70% to 80% the domestic collection and sort (Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior, 2015, p. 2115). Automatic sorting of the container can supplement the technique by recycling facility operators. The sorting performance can be enhanced by maximizing use of multiple detectors, for instance, X-ray for sorting the PVC plastic material.
As mentioned earlier, the challenge to achieving quality recycling in the UK partly arises from the different polymer types. The recycling companies should resort to using laser sorting which is a method that uses emission spectroscopy to differentiate the distinct polymers. The system has the considerable potential of improving the ability of the organization to separate complex mixtures since they will be able to scan each flake (Menges, Emminger, and Lackner, 2013, p. 174). Further, the strategy can be used to tackle the problem encountered in the traditional automatic systems. At the same time, the approach will enable separation of automotive plastics and polymers by grade and type. Countries such as Norway, Australia, Spain, and Italy can perform rigid packaging assortment as result of improved sorting techniques which can be resource efficient considering that the UK collects over one million tonnes of plastics each year (Menges, Emminger, and Lackner, 2013, p. 174). Also, United Kingdom should resort to using technologically advanced recycling method to improve the economic issues involved in the various stages. The goal can be achieved in two primary ways: closing the gap between values of recycled materials and decreasing the cost of recycling leading to improvement in productivity and efficiency (Menges, Emminger, and Lackner, 2013, p. 174).
Deciding Course of Action and Implementation
The consumer-related collection problems can be implemented by motivating people through the provision of incentives. In other words, providing individual households with financial incentives can foster participant (McDonald, and Ball, 2018, p.112). The technique can be supplemented by offering residents with free composite bin and development of reward scheme for high recyclers. Similarly, education is an important tool for the implementation of the above techniques. Doing face-to-face education or development of leaflets and newsletters about the importance of recycling plastics is a fundamental approach towards achieving the objective. The local governments should liaise with schools to reach a wide audience to encourage residents to recycle. Usually, individuals do not respond well to punishment. The government should, therefore, resort to using incentives, material or monetary, to encourage commitment in public behavior toward plastic waste management (McDonald, and Ball, 2018, p.112). As such, it is imperative to change the current regulation. Additionally, United Kingdom can increase post-consumer packaging dramatically by rationalizing the diversity of material to maximize performance. At the same time, the government should be willing to offer financial incentive and help investors interested in starting collecting and resorting companies develop effective business strategies while at the same time supporting (McDonald, and Ball, 2018, p.112). The strategy can allow improvement of the quality and quantity of recycling in the UK.
Solution evaluation and conclusion
The above solutions can be evaluated for effectiveness bi-yearly. The government can appoint individuals to collect data on the impact of the strategies adopted to improve quality of recycling in the UK (McDonald, and Ball, 2018, p.112). The data can be used to analyze the efficiency of the method while also helping to identify the areas that require modification, change or development of other techniques.
References
Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R. and Kosior, E., 2015. Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), pp.2115-2126.
McDonald, S. and Ball, R., 2018. Public participation in plastics recycling schemes. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 22(3-4), pp.123-141.
Menges, G., Emminger, H. and Lackner, G., 2013. Recycling of plastics. International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 6(4), pp.307-330.
Pivnenko, K., Jakobsen, L.G., Eriksen, M.K., Damgaard, A. and Astrup, T.F., 2015. Challenges in plastics recycling. In Proceedings Sardinia.
