Tuesday 4th December 2007
Chase Plastics joins Campaign for Real Recycling – “mixed plastics collections jeopardise quality”
Leading UK supplier of high quality recycled polythene pellets, Chase Plastics, has joined the Campaign for Real Recycling.
Jessica Baker, managing director of Chase Plastics Ltd., said: “As committed UK plastics recyclers, we are pleased to support the Campaign for Real Recycling as we believe that the UK needs to urgently address the quality issues surrounding recycling collections. The UK should aim to recycle its own waste as much as possible, and careful recycling collections and handling is key to this.”
Regarding mixed plastics collections, she added: “Householders are of course keen to recycle everything, but we see no reason to jeopardise the quality of all recyclables for just five per cent of the waste stream. Collecting mixed polymer food trays, plastic film and containers in a co-mingled recycling bin is a recipe for disaster. Food residue from this material will contaminate all the recyclables, and the film element will cause havoc in MRF operations, getting tangled in machinery and obscuring the sorting equipment. Even if the mixed plastics could be successfully sorted out from other recyclables, there is no obvious end market for this material at present.”
“Bottles however are often rinsed out by the householder, and consist of only two polymers, PET and HDPE. The UK still has a way to go in plastic bottle recycling, relative to the rest of Europe*. There is work to do to improve sorting facilities for bottles and plenty of them to collect. We should focus on that.”
Andy Moore, CRR coordinator, said: “We are pleased to welcome Chase Plastics to the campaign and the timely expertise they bring on plastic film and plastics reprocessing and collection generally. The need to separate to achieve quality is even more marked with plastics, which brings a number of polymer streams to address.”
* See notes for editors
Information for Editors:
* PlasticsEurope presentation by Jan-Erik Johansson for WRAP. (source: “Mixed plastics …” London 30.10.07 on WRAP website – search under Jan-Erik Johansson)
NB: Note extremely small percentage of plastic bottles recycled in UK compared with other countries.
1. Chase Plastics Ltd is the UK’s leading supplier of high quality recycled polythene compounds
Established in 1960, Chase Plastics is a family owned and run business with capacity to recycle over 1,000 tonnes of plastic waste per month. Processing operations are based at Chase’s Environment Agency-accredited site in Brandon, Suffolk.
Chase Plastics specialises in the supply of high quality recycled plastic compounds in the form of uniform, batch blended pellets, produced at its factory in Brandon, Suffolk. Customers use Chase Plastics Compounds to make blown film products such as bin liners, refuse sacks, carrier bags and sheeting, as well as extruded pipes and profiles.
2. The Campaign for Real Recycling wants central government and local authorities to act urgently to improve the quality of materials collected for recycling in the UK. Real recycling is about maximising the economic, environmental and social benefits of recycling for everyone, from the local council tax payer to the global re-processing industry. Our concern is that collection systems that gather a range of different materials in one bag or bin and then compact them could permanently undermine the environmental and financial benefits of recycling. Our campaign aims to influence local authority policy and practice, and build consensus within the UK of the economic and environmental importance of highly separated collections.
3. Campaign for Real Recycling supporters:
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