This month is Plastic Free July – a national event designed to encourage homes and businesses to cut down. The focus this year is on collective actions so we’re looking at a few ways we can all do our bit.
Packaging makes up around one third of all plastic waste. According to Defra, more than 2,500,000 tonnes of plastic packaging were produced in the UK 2021, with 44% sent for recycling. It can be a challenge for businesses to reduce packaging while still ensuring items being sent out to customers are protected. However, there may be opportunities to reduce the weight of the plastic you’re currently using or switch to a plastic-free alternative. At home, one of the easiest ways to cut down on plastic packaging is to buy loose fruit and vegetables, rather than picking up pre-packed goods. According to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), this could save the UK 8,800 tonnes of plastic each year.
Continuing the packaging theme, swapping plastic food containers for more environmentally friendly alternatives is another opportunity for businesses to cut plastic use. By opting for containers (and cutlery too!) which are compostable, we can collect this waste for our clients through their food bins, which is processed locally alongside their normal food waste. At home, some simple things to do are to carry a refillable water bottle and use foil, paper or waxed cloth wrappers for keeping food fresh.
Glass may also provide a suitable alternative to plastic for a range of food and beverage uses. As well as being highly recyclable, each tonne of recycled glass added to the manufacturing process saves 1.2 tonnes of raw material*.
While it is always better to reduce the amount of waste we generate, most plastic is actually highly recyclable. At Anglian, we collect plastic as part of our dry mixed recycling (DMR), which is then sorted at our facility in Attleborough and sent for recycling into new items. Around 92% of DMR can typically be recycled with any remaining waste turned into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). 0% goes to landfill.
One of the biggest barriers to recycling is contamination. Segregating waste into the correct streams and making sure everything is clean and dry is another key part of helping to ensure any plastic waste can be recycled. We work with our clients to audit their waste streams and ensure they have the correct bins to help them sort and segregate everything they throw away, which in turn helps to maximise the amount that can be recycled. This process often saves them money too.
The big blue bins we use for our commercial rounds at Anglian are made of tough plastic, but when they reach the end of their useful lives, we send them off to be recycled into new ones. Our video below explains this process:
Plastic Free July is a great reminder to look at not just plastic, but everything you throw away. If you’d like to talk to us about reducing waste and increasing in your business, please get in touch. We offer a free waste audit – click here to book yours.
Five plastic facts:
Plastic comes from the Latin term ‘plasticus’ which means able to be moulded
The first known human-made plastic was developed in 1856 by Alexander Parkes in Birmingham. It was called Parkesine and made using cellulose from plants mixed with nitric acid.
The first fully synthetic plastic was made in 1907 by Leo Baekeland. You might know this better as Bakelite.
Plastics are categorised into seven different types, which can be identified by the triangular three arrow recycling symbol with a number inside it
PET (also known as plastic type 1) is the most common type of plastic, typically used for drinks bottles.
Source:
*The Rubbish Book - James Piper
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