Plastic Recycling Roundtable - Jan 2025

On Tuesday 11th February the British Plastics Federation (BPF) joined industry colleagues in a roundtable focused on the challenging market conditions within the plastic recycling sector. Helen Jordan (Sustainability Manager), Brian Lodge (Director of Flexible and Packaging plastics) and Roger Baynham (Chairman of the BPF Recycling Group) all attended this meeting, which was hosted by Mary Creagh, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Senior representatives attended from DEFRA, DBT/DESNZ, Environment Agency, Food Standards Agency (FSA), HMT, HMRC and two members of the Circular Economy Taskforce.

There was a good discussion covering all the current issues within the plastic recycling market including the PRN system, fraud within the Plastic Packaging Tax, over reliance on export, waste crime and the outdated food contact regulations. The industry were able to suggest that there needed to be reforms to the PRN system, a review of the effectiveness of the tax, support for UK recyclers and an update to the food contact regulations.

Each government department provided some feedback with the key announcement being that the FSA confirmed they are the competent authority for Great Britain which is something the BPF has been pushing for over a number of months. They are also aware that the current food contact regulations need updating. The other notable comment was that, subject to Ministerial approval, the PRN system would be reviewed.

Government officials recognised the need to stabilise the markets in the short-term, so will look at what immediate changes can be made along with the longer-term legislative amendments. 

The BPF will look to engage with all these government departments as their work on this continues.