plastic packaging waste was emphasized as a priority concern for action by wrap at an associate parliamentary sustainable resource group meeting which was held in london. while speaking at the industry forum, which was held at portcullis house, marcus gover, wrap&rsquos director for the closed loop economy, mentioned that there was "a genuine opportunity to recycle more plastics" that would support defra&39s consultation on packaging waste and planned new recovery targets from 20132017. even though the uk&39s recycling record on most materials is good, levels of plastic waste recycling are usually poor. figures from defra&39s packaging consultation indicate that, in 2010, the total plastic packaging collected waste was 2,478,630 tones. only about 25 of the total amount was recycled or recovered, with the rest sent for incineration or landfill. this is due to difficulty in collecting and recycling films. black plastics cannot be easily identified and sorted at materials recovery facilities mrfs. there is a shortage in the number of supreme value markets for nonbottle plastics. gover mentioned that the local authorities could considerably increase the overall recycling rates of plastic by focusing on collection schemes on plastic bottles. currently, in the uk, only about half of the plastic bottles collected are reprocessed. he further said that, if we consider plastic bottles, around 50 recycling is clearly great. however, it still means that people are throwing away one in two bottles, despite the fact that almost every local authority collecting them. in january 2012, wrap published new guidance designed to support local authorities in scotland and england that are either planning to collect, or are at present collecting, plastic bottles at the kerbside. the guide emphasizes on increasingcapture rates from plastic bottleonly collection services andor plastic bottle material quality. although an increasing number of councils have extended the range of plastic packaging in kerbside collections in order to increase plastic yields, the addition of rigid plastics and films has caused problems for reprocessors. gover told delegates that they need to look at the quality as the additional plastics start to come into the waste stream collected, as there is a risk of dropping the quality of bottles. gover further said, without the proper sorting facilities and proper processing, the collection of rigid plastics is creating problems. it is very difficult to collect films. films tend to get trapped around the machinery in mrfs. gover mentioned that wrap would be presenting a guide for local authorities looking at mixed plastics and how best to collect this complicated waste stream. he added they are really pleased that retailers are presenting instore takeback schemes where it is possible to recycle films with carrier bags. according to him, this will not defile the other plastic streams that are more recyclable and will help to collect films. gover says building more reprocessing plants for rigid plastics, and films is now a true priority he dragged attention to the £5m loan fund, which wrap has set up to offer support for facilities that can process such plastic materials like the eco plastics plant in lincolnshire. source of information httpwww.edie.netnews5wraptargetsplasticpackagingaspriority22049
