THE PLASTIC
WASTE PARADOX
I
n one camp we have
those who believe
plastic should be
totally eradicated and
in the other, we have
those who acknowledge
that plastic is too deeply
entrenched in our lives to be
able to ban it for good.
landfi ll or incineration because
they ’re contaminated by
other waste. In fact, European
figures suggest that only
around 37% of bottles are
actually recycled.
The paradox here is that
recyclers are actually
struggling to source suffi cient
upstream PCR (post-
consumer recycled plastic) to
meet the increased demand
for recycled plastic. Meanwhile, the Philippines
recently shipped back tonnes
of rubbish to Canada that it
said was falsely labelled as
plastic recycling in 2013 and
2014, and worries about
receiving such waste is now
propelling other countries
to act. Vietnam is no longer
issuing new licences and will
bar all imports of plastic scrap
by 2025, in October, Taiwan
said it will only import single
source plastic waste and
India expanded its ban on
solid plastic waste imports
this March.
In the UK only 59% of plastic
bottles are currently collected
for recycling, and many of
these bottles end up going to Poorly managed plastic waste
is creating havoc, when in
fact high-quality waste has
the potential to be turned
Either way, we are quite
literally drowning in a sea of
plastic that requires urgent
transformational management,
and I believe this is where our
focus should rest.
Drink Asia
41
into a myriad of recycled
plastic products. It is now not
only technologically possible
but economically viable to
produce plastic products
from 100% recycled material.
In fact, there is no reason why
plastic shouldn’t be seen as its
own raw material.
Deposit schemes designed
to encourage the return of
The RefPET
refi llable
bottles for
carbonated
beverages and
water products
can be made
with as much
as 30% recycled
content and
can be reused
up to 20 times.
March-April 2020
plastic bottles can result in
like-for-like recycling. Yet
there are still widespread
misconceptions around the
quality of recycled materials
and what is achievable.
The PET industry as a whole
has made huge progress and
we now have the technology
to produce lightweight PET
bottles made from 100%
food-grade post-consumer
recycled (PCR) PET.
We need to address the
situation in a more visionary
way that centres around
managing the pressing waste
situation by properly re-using
plastic, and this should mean
everything from creating
100% recycled products to
a greater focus on refi llable
bottles.
Refillable bottles may be
yet another way to help
reduce packaging waste, and