jarek zasadzinski, chief executive, greiner packaging, takes an informed look at the year ahead.according to a survey from 2011, uk households produce over 1.7m tonnes of plastic packaging each year. about a third of this is bottles, a quarter is nonbottle rigid plastics and the remainder is films and bags. it is estimated that in 2010, the uk achieved an overall bottle recycling rate of 48.5 and rigid packaging rate of 7&ndash9, which means there is significant scope to increase the capture of all forms of rigid plastic packaging for recycling.while recycling bottles and films is quite &lsquoeasy&rsquo for an end consumer due to the ease of recognition and handling, the nonbottle rigid plastics pose another challenge. this is why both the supermarkets and major brand owners have been pushing to streamline the number of different materials in order to help with sorting. there has been a major push to get rid of some materials from the shelves such as ps or pvc or combinations of different materials &ndash such as pppe &ndash that are difficult for recyclers to separate.technology has been a major help here. for instance, with the use of the latest hd dryoffset print we are in a position to easily substitute pe selfadhesive labels on the pots without losing the quality of decoration. at the same time, we get rid of one material and lightweight the pack.secondly, brand owners are pushing to lightweight their products and use more environmentallyfriendly solutions where plastic content is limited. advanced thermoforming technologies allow us to increasingly substitute materials. plasticcardboard combinations such as greiner&rsquos k3 technology have grown rapidly and allow us to reduce plastic content by up to 80 while using recycled board as a substitute.the sustainability trend will continue to be a key factor for the retailers and brand owners. consumers are evermore conscious of what they hold in their hands, but education will play a major role. and the uk still has major room for improvement as in some other eu countries we see recycling rates that exceed 80. 
