September 25
The annual RECOUP Conference is the not-to-be-missed event within the plastics recycling value chain.
March 27, 10:30 – 12:30
RECOUP are offering members the opportunity to visit Sherbourne Recycling new state of the art materials recycling facility which combine the use of robotics and optics to separate materials.
Sherbourne Recycling
Automation, flexibility and sustainability
Who are we and how did we get here?
• Sherbourne Recycling was established in 2021, but the journey started way back in 2016
• Mandated to develop, operate, and maintain a new state of the art materials recycling facility in Coventry
• Partnership of eight local authorities makes up the company structure
Design solution
• Technologically advanced solution, highly automated and innovative state of the art facility designed and manufactured by Machinex
• Integrates artificial intelligence at the core of its system that allows real-time interconnectivity between the main sorting equipment
• Adaptability to evolve with minimal input
• Designed to process fully commingled DMR
Taking the next step
• Film extraction present at almost every step of the material sorting process, allowing
Sherbourne’s MRF to be the first of its kind to positively extract flexible films in its input streams
Focusing on developments in technology that will help to drive improvements in the plastics recycling and resource efficiency value chain, The RECOUP Summit is a new event on the RECOUP calendar. Sponsored by WRAP and Ecosurety, The RECOUP Summit takes place on 30 April 2025 at Horizon in Leeds, consisting of focused breakout rooms in the morning followed by a collaborative session in the afternoon, and plenty of time for networking. With an exciting line up of speakers already announced the day is set to see many insightful discussions taking place – it really is an event not to be missed!
Attendees can choose between the following breakout sessions:
This session will examine the importance of data collection in advancing the circular economy, highlighting the function of accurate data in helping deliver the changes that are needed. Looking at how different technologies can add value , whether that is for waste tracking or reuse systems.
Speakers:
Sophie Walker, CEO & Co-Founder, Dsposal
Rachel Warren, CEO, re-universe
Will Addy, Chief Commercial Officer, Polytag
Technological innovations are profoundly changing the recycling sector. This session will explore the effects of chemical recycling and advancements in technology that are transforming the recycling industry.
Speakers:
Dr Geoff Brighty, Head of Sustainability, Mura Technology
Emmeline Aves, Commercial Manager, ReVentas
Samuel Pine, Head of Customer Delivery, Greyparrot
Food contact plastic packaging plays a crucial role in enhancing the recycled content in high end applications. This session will explore possibilities and innovations in this space.
Speakers:
Jeremy Blake, Director of Circular Economy, Berry Global
David Bargery, Managing Director, Regis Machinery
Professor Edward Kosior, CEO & Founder, Nextek Ltd
Rebecca Davis, RECOUP’s Membership & Events Manager, comments “With the continued success of The RECOUP Conference and the reoccurring demand for more in depth discussions on technological developments, The RECOUP Summit will bring together a variety of high calibre speakers from the industry. Focusing on three important areas, The RECOUP Summit provides an invaluable opportunity to hear the latest insights and help shape the future of technological advancement in the recycling and resource efficiency value chain”
Tickets for The RECOUP Summit are limited to only 40 spaces per session! To view the full agenda and book your ticket, please visit the RECOUP website https://www.recoup.org/news-events/the-recoup-summit/. If you have any questions or require further information, please contact RECOUP at enquiry@recoup.org.
Plastic resource efficiency and recycling charity, RECOUP, has launched its annual UK Household Plastic Packaging Collection Survey, which has outlined the monumental scale of the challenge ahead.
Whilst there have been incremental improvements across the board for kerbside service provision for plastic packaging, the scale to include other formats in collection services in a relatively short timescale is unprecedented, but one that is entirely achievable with the right drive, funding, planning and leadership.
With all UK local authorities collecting plastic bottles as part of their kerbside service in 2019, local authorities providing kerbside service provision for plastic pots, tubs and trays increased from 88% to 89% and 12% to 14% for plastic films and flexibles, the first increase after 6 consecutive years of decline. This means another 39 local authorities need to collect plastic pots, tubs and trays and 312 for plastic films and flexibles by March 2027 to comply with requirements – just over 2 years away.
Consistency of Inconsistency in Citizen Communications
Effective communications to citizens are an essential part of this process, and whilst local authorities are making significant efforts – 60% reporting they have an ongoing or continuous citizen communication campaign about plastic packaging recycling – packaging EPR funding needs to strengthen the resources to delivery these campaigns. The 2024 Survey found local authorities reported an average material reject rate of 14%, and helping to deal with issues such as contamination will be pivotal.
However, although Simpler Recycling in England and similar approaches in other nations will provide consistency of what can be placed for recycling, the 2024 Survey found there is a comprehensive inconsistency in messaging across the UK, both in the language used and instructions given.
For example, when looking at plastic bottle lids, 40% of local authorities ask for citizens to leave lids on bottles but 13% ask for them to be left off. 12% listed lids as separate target items, however, did not specify if they should be left on the bottle or not, 5% said that they can be either on or off the bottle, and the remaining 30% do not provide any guidance.
Other examples of instructions to residents will need to be adjusted to fit new policy requirements. 54% of local authorities ask for plastic bottles to be flattened or squashed, but with a DRS planned to be implemented in October 2027, this message might cause confusion as it is likely plastic bottles shouldn’t be presented in this way in a deposit return system.
The biggest common message is 85% specifying that items should be empty, rinsed and/or washed, with 53% asking for items to be disposed of loose and not bagged.
Steve Morgan, Head of Policy & Infrastructure at RECOUP, said: “Whereas the different instructions need to reflect local sorting and processing requirements, it’s in the benefits of consumers and all stakeholders to have simple, consistent national communications messages about how to present plastics for recycling. Packaging EPR and Deposit Return Schemes, through their respective Scheme Administrator and Deposit Management Organisation leadership, should build on the requirements of Simpler Recycling and provide the foundations and influence to enable one unified core set of messages about how to recycle.”.
Impact of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
Another key finding around communications in the 2024 RECOUP Survey wasn’t to residents but around local authority funding. With the focus on packaging EPR to provide the funding to collect and sort packaging, the impact of another policy needs greater awareness and urgent and robust plans to mitigate its impact.
The ETS is a market-driven mechanism that limits the emissions an involved industry is allowed to produce, with the intention to incentivise the development and uptake of decarbonisation technologies or practices to reduce emissions. The scheme is expanding to include waste incineration and energy from waste from 2028, preceded by a 2-year transitional period from 2026, and will significantly impact the dynamics of local authority funding. To reduce this impact, removing plastic packaging from residual waste will be key.
The 2024 RECOUP Survey found that around a third of local authorities (32%) said they were not aware of the upcoming expansion of ETS and its impact on incineration and energy recovery of local authority waste. Furthermore, when asked how prepared they felt for the changes to ETS on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being not prepared at all, and 10 being fully prepared), 37% gave a score of 3 or below, indicating they do not feel confident about how it will operate. Only 12% gave a 7 or higher with no local authorities giving a score of 10.
The 2024 RECOUP UK Household Plastic Packaging Collection Survey report is available for RECOUP members to download, with the Data Summary available for non-members here.
Following its original release in 2006, RECOUP, the UK’s leading independent authority and trusted voice on plastics resource efficiency and recycling, has regularly updated its flagship publication, Recyclability by Design (RBD). The latest update comes at a critical time for packaging recyclability with the impending increase of compliance costs associated with Extended Producer Responsibility. There is now a positive financial driver to make packaging fully recyclable and to progress circular economy ambitions. The financial implications of not adhering to recyclability standards, such as those set out by RECOUP, will significantly increase compliance costs and lowers organisations’ sustainability credentials.
RECOUP’s Head of Packaging Recycling and Design, Paul East, commented; “RBD is a reminder of the importance of designing for recycling, when making decisions, as well as for marketing and brand recognition. By using the recommendations within RBD, you will be ensuring that your plastic packaging is given the best chance to be recycled in line with upcoming legislation.”
RECOUP has worked tirelessly to promote the core principles and good practice in pack design that give plastics packaging a greater chance of being recycled within the existing UK infrastructure, with RBD offering guidelines to help Packaging Technologists and Buyers ensure that their plastic is presented in the best way possible to the recycling chain.
There are continuous changes to recycling processes technology, and innovation continues in the packaging industry to help alleviate some of the challenges faced by recyclers. With valuable contributions from RECOUP members and colleagues from across the industry, RBD is agile and is continuously reviewed and updated to reflect these changes, including updated polymer-specific recyclability tables.
The updated Recyclability by Design guidance is available to view on the RECOUP website.
Plastics resource efficiency and recycling charity, RECOUP, has called for a more effective Plastic Packaging Tax in its new position statement.
As of April 2024, the tax is applied at a cost of £217.85 per tonne for plastic packaging placed on the UK market that is not claimed to contain 30% recycled content. However, there have been a number of issues identified during the two years the tax has been in place.
An unintended consequence of the Plastic Packaging Tax is happening right now.
The Plastic Packaging Tax was set up as an ‘environmental tax’, but there have been many examples of where packaging claims to meet 30% recycled content to avoid paying the tax – with some examples either not being technically possible or cleverly using the term ‘pre-consumer’ material that might not actually have any recycled content at all.
Simply put, claims of recycled content is not being sufficiently verified or enforced, particularly for packaging (filled and unfilled) that is imported into the UK.
Calls for the cost or 30% percentage of the tax are not sufficient to incentivise use of recycled content, but if these increase without proper enforcement, false claims of recycled content will inevitably also increase, and UK recyclers could further struggle in already acutely challenging commercial conditions.
Steve Morgan, Head of Policy & Infrastructure at RECOUP said: “An incentive to include recycled content, even if it has to be a tax, is a force for good as long as it’s properly enforced. However, the UK imports around half the plastic packaging it places onto the market, and this includes packaging with claims of recycled content.
“Lack of enforcement is increasingly making the UK recyclers commercially unviable due to having to compete with cheap imports of virgin packaging and packaging with recycled content from countries with significantly lower cost base and greater access to material.
If these false claims, particularly from imported material continue, we could see a collapse of the plastic packaging recycling system in the UK as we know it, and urgent action is needed.”
Lack of enforcement also means HMRC are losing revenue for an unknown quantity of packaging that does not contain 30% recycled content. That revenue, of course, is leaving our recycling systems, and an opportunity remains to align with packaging EPR and include recycled content as part of the eco-modulation framework, and thus incorporating a more holistic environmental impact of the packaging. Revenue like this for including recycled content, if ring fenced for the reprocessing sector, would provide game changing technical strengthening and ultimately commercial transformation for UK plastic packaging recyclers.
With packaging EPR and the Plastic Packaging Tax there are significantly increased administrative burdens on producers and users of plastic packaging. Any use of an enforcement and verification framework will have an impact on producers and users of plastic packaging and changes should ensure, as much as possible, that no avoidable burdens are placed on these businesses.
RECOUP also calls for an urgent review and overhaul of the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system to provide a more stable, commercially supportive and modulated PRN for plastic packaging formats where targeted funding is needed the most.
RECOUP’s new position statement, Considerations & Recommendations for a more Effective Plastic Packaging Tax can be downloaded here.
After receiving a record number of entries showcasing the amazing work being done throughout the plastics value chain in the areas of re-use, recycling and re-design, RECOUP have announced the winners of this years awards. Taking place the evening before the highly anticipated RECOUP Conference, the awards generated a lot of interest from across the plastics resources and recycling value chain with strong entries received for all categories.
Presented by Stuart Foster, CEO at RECOUP, the first winner announced was for the ‘Best Innovation in Equipment or Technology’ award which was presented to Polytag and Ocado Retail for their Rewards for Recycling initiative. This initiative encourages recycling by giving Ocado customers the opportunity to claim 20p rewards for recycling their own-brand two and four-pint milk bottles by using Polytags QR codes.
The winner of the second award for ‘Best Plastic Product Development for Recyclability or Re-Use’ was presented to Berry Global for their partnership with Abel & Cole, a pioneer in sustainable food delivery, to supply bottles for its Club Zero Refillable Milk delivery service. The new polypropylene (PP) bottles can be refilled up to 16 times before being recycled, reducing the carbon footprint of single-use milk bottles by half.
The third winner announced was for the ‘Recycled Plastic Product of the Year’ award which was presented to Morph Bricks Ltd. This is a closed loop modular construction system turning plastic waste into fully adaptable furniture and fit-out solutions that can be repurposed and re-engineered multiple times.
Nominated by the team at RECOUP, the Award of Recognition went to Jim Armstrong, Chairman of the RECOUP Board. Jim has provided help and support across many different activities within the team and for RECOUP members over the past year. His unwavering passion in the pursuit of plastic circularity in the UK and internationally is recognised by many.
The RECOUP Awards was followed by the RECOUP Conference. Throughout the day a number of speakers identified that many of the challenges and opportunities are well understood and we now collectively have to move forward within the context of new policy developments and environmental expectations both in the UK and globally. There was also agreement that things aren’t happening fast enough, and the value chain really needs to work together to make progress quicker and better than previously. The role of the consumer was also a common theme throughout the day, both in terms of their role in delivering change, and in how we bring them on the sustainable plastic journey.
Stuart Foster, CEO of RECOUP, commented “With continued focus on the policy and practical aspects of plastics and wider climate and sustainability issues, the day was genuinely interesting and very timely around a range of priority areas. Once again the RECOUP conference and dinner was a resounding success, I would like to thank all the speakers, delegates, exhibitors, and awards entrants for their involvement and support.”
Congratulations to the award winners and thank you to the judges and all the entries this year. We need more innovation and development to get us to where we need to be and create a more sustainable future, don’t miss out on submitting an entry next year, the application process alongside dinner and conference details will be announced in due course.
RECOUP are delighted to announce the shortlisted entries for the 2024 RECOUP Awards. Congratulations to the shortlisted entries, and thank you to all the companies who entered. We were delighted to receive so many submissions for all three categories, showcasing the amazing work being done throughout the plastics value chain.
**Announcing the shortlist for the RECOUP awards:**
Best Plastic Product Development for Recyclability or Re-Use
Berry Global: Abel & Cole Club Zero Refillable Milk
Berry Global: Omni® Xtra+ PE Film
Capri-Sun GmbH: Mono-material beverage pouch
Greiner Packaging UK & Ireland: K3® r100
Best Innovation in Equipment or Technology
Cauli Ltd: CauliKiosk – AI-powered reverse vending for reusable plastics
Ellipsis Earth Ltd: AI waste platform
Polytag and Ocado Retail: Rewards for Recycling
TOMRA Recycling: GAINnextTM – an enabler of food-grade sorting
Recycled Plastic Product of the Year
Aldi UK: All Ambient Soft Drinks, Waters, Dilutes
Brookfield Drinks: NEO WTR
Morph Bricks Ltd: Morph
Free The Sea (On behalf of Nestlé): Nescafé Dolce Gusto Neo
Sponsored by REMONDIS, the RECOUP Awards Recognise and celebrate excellence in plastics resource efficiency and recycling and organisations leading a more circular plastics value chain, the winners will be unveiled on 25 September, during the highly anticipated RECOUP Awards Ceremony & Networking Dinner. Promising a unique opportunity for attendees to establish connections, applaud industry accomplishments, and pave the way for collaborative efforts. To book your place at the Awards & Pre-Conference Networking Dinner, please visit – The RECOUP Awards 2024
The awards are followed by RECOUP’s not-to-be-missed event of the year, The RECOUP Conference, which is held at Kingsgate Conference Centre, Peterborough on Thursday 26 September. Sponsored by Berry Global, WRAP, ReZorce® Zotefoams, and others, the RECOUP Conference attracts delegates from the entire plastics and wider sustainability value chain. With hundreds of delegates in attendance The RECOUP Conference is unique in its ability to draw together NGOs, Local and National Government bodies, and companies from all stages of the plastics value chain to network, share best practice and stay ahead of our everchanging landscape. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest updates from the plastics value chain at the event of the year!
To book your place at the Conference, please visit – The RECOUP Conference 2024
The International Composites Summit (ICS), the UK’s only 100% composites focused exhibition, takes place at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes from 4 – 5 September.
Dedicated to the advancement and celebration of composite materials in the UK, ICS is a platform designed to connect, educate, and inspire industry professionals across the entire composites spectrum.
To compliment the show’s aims, which are to showcase the latest ground-breaking solutions, industry innovations, manufacturing advancements and business opportunities, the International Composites Summit is pleased to announce its two-day speaker programme, set across two stages, housing some of the most influential individuals in the composites industry globally.
Some of the notable speakers on the Sustainability Stage include Network Rail, Aerospace Technology Group, JEC, Sustainable Sailing, Owens Corning, the European Composites Industry Association, ADS, Make UK and more, covering key themes such as:
Sustainability Stage speaker, David Morgan, Chief Strategy Officer of Carbon Rivers said: “Carbon Rivers is quite excited to contribute to the robust conversations at ICS 2024 involving sustainability and circular economies for the global composite industry. Technology and industry have advanced to the extent that we never have to landfill post-industrial or post-consumer composite materials again. The decommissioned wind blade, composite boat, or automotive scrap can now be a new blade, boat, or car for manufacturing today, and not a decade from now.”
Amongst the notable speakers on the Innovation Stage include Richard Noble OBE and representatives from the National Composites Centre, Scott Bader, Hydrogen UK, San Diego State University, Loop Technology and AMRC. The Innovation stage will look at:
Presenting on Building Sustainable Aircraft Wings, Loop Technology’s Project Director, Ian Redman said of the opportunity: “Loop Technology is delighted to be attending the International Composites Summit, a vibrant event that brings together leaders in the composites industry and highlights the latest innovation. I am thrilled to be presenting on ‘Building Sustainable Aircraft Wings’ and how our FibreLINE accelerates that process.”
The full programme of talks is available now. All the presentations on the Sustainability and Innovation stages are open to attend and can be accessed by registering for ICS free-of-charge on the show website: www.internationalcompositessummit.com.
As part of the RECOUP Litter Composition & Pathways Project the team recently carried out a litter pick in a local industrial area. In total 7 bags were collected over a 2-hour period which incorporated a mixture of new material as well as legacy litter, and remarkably included a crisp packet with a 1997 expiry date!
The condition of this crisp packet was surprisingly preserved, with little degradation to the packet itself or the ink, really highlighting how litter can stay in the environment for considerable periods of time if disposed of incorrectly and left uncollected.
This was the 5th litter pick carried out as part of the project, which came about due to the continued concern over litter pollution, and the call for better data and evidence to drive effective solutions to reduce litter.
Supported by funding from RECOUP members McDonald’s and Ocado Retail, the project’s primary goal is to review, challenge, and provide robust evidence regarding the composition of litter. To achieve this, RECOUP aims to:
A variety of litter picks have already been carried out across the Peterborough area with the help of the Peterborough Litter Wombles, covering a mix of location types and deprivation levels, to understand any variations in litter types based on these variables.
As the project progresses, the methodology will be shared with litter groups across the country, with the aim for them to continue building the litter database by covering a larger variety of different location types, helping to make the data as comprehensive and inclusive as possible.
The evidence-based insights gained from this project will aid in the development of targeted interventions to combat litter pollution effectively and will be shared with government, devolved administrations, and key stakeholders to inform and advise policy decisions.
Laura Hutchings, Projects & Data Manager at RECOUP, said “It has been really interesting to see the variety of both new and legacy litter we have been collecting from each litter pick. There is an obvious need for highly thought-out, targeted interventions for the prevention of litter, and this project will provide key data and insights to help achieve this”.
If you would like to find out more about the Litter Composition & Pathways Project, please contact Laura Hutchings on laura.hutchings@recoup.org.