British Recycled Plastic says ‘Major investment needed in sorting, cleaning and reprocessing plastic waste materials’

On Global Recycling Day 2021 British Recycled Plastic says major investment is needed at a local, regional and national level in sorting, cleaning and reprocessing plastic waste materials. The environmentally conscious company, driven by the desire to create new products and markets for plastic waste, saving it from landfill, is passionate about changing the perception that plastic waste materials are solely a problem, instead educating people of their power as a resource.

British Recycled Plastic is helping public and private sector organisations slash their maintenance costs and be kinder to the environment by producing and supplying ultra-tough, 100% recycled plastic furniture, bins, raised beds and fencing used in schools,colleges and universities and by councils and the public sector. The products are made from recycled mixed plastic which has been diverted from land-fill, incineration and dumping abroad then converted into a durable, useful material.

British Recycled Plastic’s Managing Director, Jason Elliott, says more needs to be done in the fight against plastic waste materials. “Plastic pollution is undoubtedly a major environmental concern. Our streets, beaches and oceans are testament to its far-reaching effects, but with more education and major investment we can realise the significant benefits of recycled plastic over other materials,” he says.

“Recycled plastic is inherently tough, it is chemically inert so will never leach any toxic chemicals and will never rot, split or splinter so has a long lifespan, whatsmore it is environmentally friendly. We should be viewing plastic as a resource and looking at how we can keep it in the clean recycling loop,” he adds.

More than 285,000 tonnes, or 6.28 billion household plastic bottles are not recycled – this costs local councils £24.3m in disposal costs (source: WRAP) It is estimated that nearly 1.2 million tonnes of plastics packaging are consumed by households in the UK (source:recoup) and from this 1.2 million tonnes, it is reported that 440,401 tonnes is collected for recycling – an overall 37% recycling rate.

Over the last two decades, the household waste recycling rate in England has increased significantly from just 11.2 percent to almost 50 percent. However, England still fell short of the EU target of recycling a minimum of 50 percent of its household waste by 2020.