Review of the year: The industry and the environment

Despite, and in some cases because of, the economic doom and gloom the environment has been hitting the headlines over the past year.

Undoubtedly, the biggest environmental story of the past 12 months has been the catastrophic impact of the recession on the price of recovered materials. Then there was the price of oil, which went up and up, before it came tumbling down.

There was no shortage of recycling-related stories, either, with the British Retail Consortium recycling logo getting its official launch. Closed Loop London, the first UK plant capable of producing food-grade recycled plastic, opened its doors.

And there was furore over proposals to introduce financial incentives to encourage consumers to recycle. And of course, Easter egg packaging and carrier bags were thrown into the fray.

Material prices
In November 2008, the price of recovered paper fell to just £1 a tonne, while recovered plastic and steel hit zero, prompting fears of a collapse of the UK’s recycling system and household waste collections ending up in landfill.

Corus Steel Packaging Recycling announced that it had valued steel collected by its CanRoute collection network at zero – compared with £235 per tonne in May 2008.

The crash highlighted the country’s dependence on exporting waste, particularly to China. The market was already bracing for the effects of the credit crunch, as demand from the construction and automotive industries fell, which was further compounded by the Chinese decision not to accept mixed waste.

As a result of falling prices, the Environment Agency (EA) issued guidance for the safe storage of materials in order to maintain consumer confidence in recycling and avoiding sending waste to landfill.

PRNs
Data published by the Environment Agency (EA) in March this year showed that UK firms had met the business recovery targets for 2008 and more than 250,000 tonnes of PRNs had been carried through to this year.

Duncan Simpson, marketing director at Valpak, the UK’s largest packaging waste compliance scheme said: “There’s no doubt there were severe demand and price problems towards the end of the year, but the PRN system did what it was supposed to do and inject cash to ensure materials are being recovered.”

Earlier in the year, the Environment Agency (EA) defended the packaging recovery note system against charges that increased prices and reduced availability would make it difficult for firms to meet their obligations.

Valpak has more than doubled its prices for 2009, compared to 2008, prompting calls for government help to alleviate the impact.

Stockpiling
In January this year, the national media was full of images of so-called stockpiles of material that had been put out for recycling, leading newspapers and broadcasters to question the relevance of recycling.

The global crash in the prices of recovered materials had supposedly left councils unable to shift collected recycling, especially paper.

“Demand for recycled products has collapsed because of the global economic climate. Prices have gone from all-time highs to all-time lows of a generation, and buyers are becoming choosier,” said Ian Wakelin, chief executive of waste management firm Greenstar.

However, Wakelin said that the stories about stockpiling and paper mountains had been “sensationalised” and betrayed a poor understanding of the state of the reprocessed materials market.

Bin taxes
The Climate Change Act, passed in November 2008, provided for five local authorities to trial financial incentives to encourage more recycling and fine households that don’t recycle.

Not a single council in England put itself forward to run trial pay-as-you-throw recycling schemes before the January 2009 deadline.

Despite the lack of support from councils, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not ruled out future incentive schemes as the power to do so is still included in the Act.
A Defra spokeswoman told Packaging News the government would consider “a sensible proposal if a local authority came forward”. She added: “It’s up to the councils if they want to use the powers the Act gives them.”

Courtauld Commitment
The Courtauld Commitment announced it had achieved its initial target to design out packaging waste growth in August 2008. It also confirmed it would change its focus from the weight of packaging to its CO2 emissions.

The programme is now aiming to implement absolute reductions in packaging by 2010. It is also focusing on tackling the issue of food waste, through its Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

Wrap chief executive Liz Goodwin said a more “holistic approach to the sustainability of packaging” was required.

Jane Bickerstaffe, director of Incpen, said that she was “not at all surprised” that the targets had been met, adding that the industry had been concerned about the environment “for years”, regardless of the influence of Wrap.

Carrier bags
In April, Britain’s most prominent environmental commentator, George Monbiot argued plastic bags were not “the scourge of the planet” as many claim.

In March, the Carrier Bag Consortium (CBC) backed the Scottish government’s campaign to encourage reuse of carrier bags.

In February, the Daily Mail returned to its anti-bags campaign on the back of a survey that showed 82% of people felt a 10-15p charge for single-use carrier bags would encourage them to use bags-for-life.

The Welsh Assembly Government considered passing legislation to ban single-use plastic carriers, and, in December, seven British supermarkets pledged to halve the number of carrier bags they give out by next spring, based on 2006 levels.

BRC recycling logo    
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) recycling logo was officially launched in March this year.

The label, used by all the major supermarkets, is divided into three categories: ‘widely recycled’ for packaging collected by at least 65% of councils; ‘check local recycling’ for materials collected by 15-65% of councils; and ‘not currently recycled’ for items collected by fewer than 15%. The design was first unveiled in late 2007.

In May last year, it was announced that Tetra Paks, which were in the ‘not currently recycled’ category when the logo was trialled, would be placed in the ‘widely recycled’ category for the official launch.

Asda was the first retailer to trial the label, in December 2007. The retailer has since rolled the line out to 6,500 products.

Manufacturers that have committed to the label include Associated British Foods, Britvic, Kellogg’s, Premier Foods, Rachel’s Organics, Robert Wiseman Dairies and Weetabix. The BRC has said it hopes to sign 60 companies up to the scheme by the end of its first year.

Plastics recycling
Plastics recycling took a big leap in the last 12 months as Closed Loop, AWS Eco Plastics and Greenstar vied to grab the headlines – and contracts – for producing recycled food-grade PET and HDPE.

Big-name companies that signed up to use material from Closed Loop London’s plant, which began production at the start of this year and is capable of producing up to 35,000 tonnes of recycled food-grade plastic every year, include Coca-Cola Enterprises, Marks & Spencer, Nampak, Reynolds Food Packaging and Solo Cup Europe.

The company has since started building a second factory in north Wales and is planning more facilities, making it one of the key players in what managing director Chris Dow (picured) has termed a “revolution” in recycling.

One client leading the way in using recycled HDPE has been Nampak Plastics, the milk bottle producer. It has signed deals with Closed Loop as well as AWS Eco Plastics and Greenstar WES to supply material for its products.

Easter eggs
Easter eggs hit the headlines again this year, with major brands and retailers announcing cuts to their packaging.
Mars reduced the amount of packaging in its medium-sized Easter eggs by 39%.

Marks & Spencer reduced its Easter egg packaging by almost 30%, while Cadbury UK delivered a 25% reduction across its medium-shell eggs.

Nestlé UK removed plastic packaging from 80% of its Easter egg range and reduced the packaging of its entire range by 30%.

Thorntons reduced the amount of packaging on its core Easter egg range
by 22%.

However, Easter egg packaging was found to account for less than 0.3% of the total packaging from a sample of 73 product categories tested by Incpen and Valpak.

Milk
In April, Dairy Crest’s refillable milk jug, Jugit, was rolled out to 200 Sainsbury’s and Waitrose stores nationwide.

And Greenstar WES secured a contract to supply Nampak with food-grade recycled HDPE to produce bottles for Marks & Spencer’s organic milk bottles.

In February, Robert Wiseman Dairies became the first Scottish-headquartered company to join the Courtauld Commitment.

In October last year, Nampak Plastics signed its biggest-ever deal for recycled HDPE. The firm signed to buy 12,000 tonnes per year from AWS Eco Plastics in Lincolnshire.

In August, Asda began selling milk in a recycled cardboard bottle, created by Suffolk-based GreenBottle, at stores in East Anglia.

Last April, Tesco started selling milk from Welsh organic milk co-operative Calon Wen in low-density “eco pak” polythene bags in 43 stores across Wales.

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