{"id":11537,"date":"2019-04-09T11:30:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T10:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/?p=11537"},"modified":"2019-04-08T12:59:32","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T11:59:32","slug":"recycling-producer-pays-or-producer-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/recycling-producer-pays-or-producer-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling: producer pays \u2014 or producer profits?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Miguel Campos argues that government legislation is currently ignoring the reality of recycling packaging waste<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Popularised by science fiction, the red pill and blue pill are polar opposites. Take the red pill, and you live a life of brutal truths and harsh reality. Take the blue pill, and you live a life of blissful ignorance and illusion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s safe to say that the world is no longer ignorant to the environmental damage of plastic. Red pill swallowed, the Government is hot on the heels of packaging producers and retailers, to prevent further damage to the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evidence from WRAP suggests that 80% of environmental damage caused by waste can be avoided by more thoughtful decisions at the design and production stage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To encourage more considered design of packaged goods, in December 2018 the UK announced a plan to force retailers and packaging producers to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling, under the new resources and waste strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u2018polluter pays\u2019 concept is explained in the plan, which ensures producers are accountable for the full costs of packaging placed on the market, as part of extended producer responsibility (EPR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The general tone of the report suggests recycling is a costly process \u2014 which it often is. For some materials, such as plastic, it\u2019s a long process with little financial gain. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorting and processing plastic, which can greatly vary in quality and type, is very laborious.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pigment in black plastic, for example, cannot be detected by automated sorting equipment, so poses huge problems in recycling facilities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet producers of aluminium packaging would argue that recycling isn\u2019t costly. Aluminium is the most valuable and most recyclable material that\u2019s currently recyclable. It maintains its scrap value so well, that it pays for its own recycling and subsidises that of other materials, such as plastic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is always a buyer willing to purchase waste aluminium for recycling, which explains why this material isn\u2019t polluting coastlines across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As recycling aluminium is profitable, there aren\u2019t any costs to retrieve from the producer. While the finer details of the \u2018polluter pays\u2019 legislation haven\u2019t been finalised, the high value of aluminium must be recognised as part of the plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Charging a retailer that uses plastic packaging the same as a retailer that uses aluminium packaging, would be ludicrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More positively, the Government is likely to recognise the high value of aluminium and implement the correct differentiation of charges. With lower or no charges for aluminium, there will be huge incentives for retailers to choose aluminium over plastic. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If other countries follow suit, the proposed legislation is an opportunity to incentivise the use of more-recyclable materials across the world, while keeping the recycling process profitable and attractive. Less plastic waste and more aluminium \u2018waste\u2019 poses access to an extra pot of cash. These profits will no doubt benefit the food industry\u2019s economy, as cash is retrieved from waste products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The red pill represents reality, independent thought and knowledge of the wider world. We know aluminium is highly recyclable, but the reality is supermarket shelves are still dominated by plastic. As legislation is finalised to make the producer pay, we see this as an opportunity for aluminium producers to reap the benefits of choosing a sustainable material, and evade the charges posed to plastic producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Miguel Campos is export sales manager at food packaging supplier <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.advantapack.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Advanta (opens in a new tab)\">Advanta<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miguel Campos argues that government legislation is currently ignoring the reality of recycling packaging waste Popularised by science fiction, the red pill and blue pill are polar opposites. Take the red pill, and you live a life of brutal truths and harsh reality. Take the blue pill, and you live a life of blissful ignorance &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5779,5945,2181,5946],"class_list":["post-11537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-process","tag-advanta","tag-high-value-materials","tag-recycling","tag-recycling-aluminium"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Recycling: producer pays \u2014 or producer profits? - Engineer News Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Miguel Campos argues that government legislation is currently ignoring the reality of recycling packaging waste\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/recycling-producer-pays-or-producer-profits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recycling: producer pays \u2014 or producer profits? 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