Leading brands, retailers join forces to launch £1m flexible plastic fund

Major food and beverage manufacturers and retailers have joined forces to establish a £1 million fund to improve flexible plastic recycling in the UK.

The Flexible Plastic Fund will see the collaboration from five of the UK’s largest branded manufacturers, Mars UK, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever. Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have already signed up to support the initiative by hosting flexible plastic collection points in selected stores across the UK, with several other major retailers are set to follow suit.

The UK industry first scheme is designed to help make flexible plastic recycling economically viable for recyclers and easier for consumers. In collaboration with manufacturers, retailers and recyclers, the fund intends to improve flexible plastic recycling and reduce plastic pollution by giving the material a stable value.

The fund will guarantee a minimum value of £100 per tonne of recycled product to incentivise recyclers to process flexible plastic. This is expected to increase the supply of recycled plastic, enabling industry to become more ‘circular’ and meet the forthcoming UK plastic packaging tax obligations.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow welcomed the new scheme, and encouraged retailers, manufacturers and recyclers to lend their support. “Plastic pollution poses a major threat to our precious environment and wildlife, and that’s why the government is committed to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2042,” she added.

The fund is being led by producer compliance scheme, Ecosurety, with support from environmental charity, Hubbub. Flexible plastics include plastic bags, wrappers, films, pouches, packets and sachets, and currently just 16 per cent of UK local authorities offer household collection of these plastics.

Flexible plastic represented 22 per cent of all UK consumer plastic packaging in 2019 but only 6 per cent was recycled. The fund is calling for recyclers, manufacturers and retailers to be a part of the scheme.

“The Flexible Plastics Fund is an important step to ensuring packaging is collected, sorted and recycled in the UK. Meaningful change can only come when everyone collaborates, from companies, governments, waste management organisations to consumers,” Louise Stigant, UK managing director Mondelēz International, said.

The initiative will provide fully audited transparency, with at least 80 per cent of the plastics collected set to be recycled in the UK and rising to 100 per cent by 2023. Until 2023, where there are currently limits in UK capacity and technology, up to 20 per cent could be exported to qualifying facilities in Europe only.