Biffa: Avoiding Plastic Waste via Material Standardisation

According to sustainable waste management company Biffa, nearly 1 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste could be avoided by standardising materials within the next five years.

Considering this, standardising materials is a major responsibility. One which falls on the shoulders of regulators, consumers and manufacturers across the UK.

This news comes from Biffa’s latest report, ‘The UK Journey to Circularity’ which was launched at its Waste Net Zero conference on the 11th of June at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

In the report, Biffa experts collaborating with consultancy partner WSP, developed a dynamic approach to circularity analysis and research. They’ve created a framework tailored both to specific resource streams and also to individual products and whole sectors.

The report outlines nine interventions to reduce plastic packaging waste, providing timescales for the UK government, consumers and businesses.

Biffa makes clear that the biggest opportunity to reduce plastic waste comes from standardising materials.

By standardising materials, millions of tonnes of plastic could be effectively recycled instead of wasted. But for this to have a significant impact, UK manufacturers need to build options for end-of-life processing and reuse in the product design stage.

Biffa is no stranger to this, having advocated as part of a broader coalition of sustainable groups for the standardisation of milk bottle caps.

Caps used to be coloured based on the type of milk a bottle contained, for example, blue for full-fat and green for semi-skimmed, but today they’ve been replaced with a clear alternative. 

This has subsequently reduced colour contamination in the high-density polyethene (HDPE) material waste stream, enabling bottles and caps to be recycled together to form new, food-grade plastic products.

The takeaways from this are clear: by standardising materials, manufacturers and wider society can more actively create and participate in a sustainable, circular economy.

The government has to participate in this too, extending existing legislation.

Biffa highlights an existing scheme- the Plastic Packaging Tax- which could further increase the amount of recyclable plastic packaging by up to 0.3 million tonnes.

Biffa and the wider waste and recycling industry have advocated for higher targets on recycled content mandated in the PPT of up to 50%, with progressive taxation of up to £500 per tonne. 

By extending this tax even further to facilitate a 75% target for recycled content instead of the estimated 40%, Biffa argues the legislation could help reduce the amount of plastic waste from between 3-5 million tonnes up to 0.75 million tonnes by 2029.

“Requirements for new infrastructure are necessary but hinge on when, and to what extent, changes in the supply chain are made,” commented Carla Brian, Head of Partnerships at Biffa.

“Efforts to make plastic packaging more circular could simplify (with standardisation, for example) or lessen the burden on existing waste management infrastructure.”

Additional legislative interventions, including the implementation of ‘consumer pays’ schemes, enabling non-mechanical recycling and a shift towards reusable packaging could lead to further plastic waste reductions.

“Upcoming legislation – including Simpler Recycling – will be a starting point for circular activity; expansions of (and new) legislation will further circular growth.” comments Carla.

“Some policies have overlapping goals, too. If implemented correctly, for example, the Deposit Return Scheme will achieve similar goals to Extended Producer Responsibility.”

Manufacturers and authoritative bodies must work collaboratively to drive these sustainability changes, ensuring compliance across operations.

Sustainability cannot be an afterthought or window pressing, it must be implemented throughout the manufacturing process, particularly at the product and educational level.

Leaders in this space have a responsibility to spread awareness about the ethical and business imperatives of sustainability, working across the value chain to foster economic circularity.

“The value of circularity is not fully recognised, so education is needed for businesses and consumers.

"Programmes highlighting environmental, financial and societal benefits of circularity could lead to behavioural change, while reactionary businesses will make change more rapidly with consumer desire for circular products and services,” adds Carla

“Investment in areas outside of infrastructure (though the two are closely linked) for example, in research, development and demonstration will help identify and test circular best practice. Such investments will assist in the transition to more circular ways of working.”

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