Survey 2000 Report
Providing a comprehensive overview of plastic bottle recycling in the UK
Including detailed analysis of scheme performance, challenges to growth and the future of plastic bottle recycling in the UK.
About RECOUP
RECOUP was established in 1989 as the national organisation for domestic plastic recycling, finding ways to increase recycling levels and overcome technical and economic barriers to growth.
Through a strong membership base and industry links, RECOUP provides a range of services for everyone concerned with plastic bottle recycling:- from education packs for schools, to helping local authorities and waste management companies develop excellent plastic bottle recycling programmes.
RECOUP also promotes efficient plastic bottle recycling by initiating worthwhile projects to enhance knowledge and best practice of plastics recycling in the UK; these are financed by member organisations throughout the plastic packaging supply and recovery chain and by individual members.
Chairman's Message
Benchmarking of performance, understanding obstacles and identifying progress - our 8th annual RECOUP survey has set and achieved these three objectives. The range of information, combined with a magnificent level of responses - over 97% of all UK local authorities kindly providing data - enables RECOUP to set out here the definitive status of plastic bottle recycling in the UK.
New Government targets require local authorities to achieve significantly more in household recycling over the next three years. RECOUP is here to facilitate that process for plastics recycling. According to this years survey findings, the rate of growth predicted by local councils is slowing. Inflated perception of cost appears to be a factor inhibiting new scheme development. For this reason, the 2000 survey also introduces an analysis of the economics of schemes as reported by their operators.
This survey provides a comprehensive overview of plastic bottle recycling in the UK at the end of the year 2000. Furthermore, it gives a unique snapshot of the different factors involved. RECOUP has analysed the data obtained to generate statistics on many aspects of plastic bottle recycling. These include details of quantities recycled, scheme locations, obstacles to further recycling, performance of various collection methods, relationships between scheme variables, new developments during 2000, and most importantly what the future holds for plastic bottle recycling in the UK.
We have conducted this survey to assist future best planning and best practices. With the range and quality of information we have assembled here, recycling scheme planners will be able to confidently estimate the potential performance of a plastic bottle collection scheme in their area based on other similar schemes across the UK. There is much still to do - but with this continuing quality of practical information, lack of know-how should not hold us back.
Finally, I would like to thank all of the 430+ recycling scheme managers who took the time to respond to our requests and have made this research so comprehensive and worthwhile.
Mike Barney
RECOUP Chairman
The Survey Results
210 local authorities in the UK report a plastic bottle collection scheme in their council area - an increase of 8% since 1999.
The number of council areas with plastic bottle collection facilities has shown a steady rise over the last 5 years. Councils not offering plastic bottle collection facilities will become the minority during 2001.
Collection Methods
49% of local authorities that responded to the survey have a plastic bottle recycling scheme. 80 of those local authorities run both bring & kerbside schemes within their council area. A further 85 have a bring scheme only, and 45 run a kerbside scheme only.
This indicates that the bring method of plastic bottle collection is most popular, with 4 out of every 5 local authorities having bring facilities.
Schemes Ceasing Operation
5 plastic bottle collection schemes have ceased operation since the 1999 survey was conducted. RECOUP contacted these schemes to find out why. The most common reasons for this are increases in contractors operational costs, or local changes that limited facilities and equipment to collect and handle the plastic bottles - for example relocation of baling equipment.
Location of Plastic Bottle Collection Schemes in the UK
WESTERN ISLES
Started Bring scheme at the end of 2000.
MAGHERAFELT
New Bring scheme with plans to expand service in 2001.
STAFFORD, BROMLEY AND SEVENOAKS
New plastic milk bottle recycling scheme in partnership with RECOUP through independent funding.
There are plastic bottle recycling schemes across the UK including England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There have also been a number of new schemes highlighted in this years survey. These are shown on the map and include Bromley and Sevenoaks, Stafford, Western Isles and Magherafelt. In addition, a number of existing plastic bottle recycling schemes expanded significantly during 2000. These included Canterbury City Council, Glasgow City Council, Lincoln City Council, Newcastle Under Lyme Borough Council and Northampton Borough Council.
When scheme distribution is plotted in the UK, a dense plastic bottle collection scheme network can be found in the South and East Midlands. This contrasts with relatively limited coverage in areas such as East Anglia, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The largest facilities for handling plastic bottles are found in Hampshire, Dorset, Sussex and Buckinghamshire. Together these account for over a third of all collections in the UK.
Over 60 sites in the UK sort and/or bale plastic bottles as part of a wider materials handling operation. The throughput of plastics at these sites ranges from under 20 tonnes to over 1,000 tonnes per year. Two sites use automatic equipment to sort plastic bottles. The remainder rely on manual sorting and quality control of plastics prior to shipment to the reprocessor.
Areas Not Collecting Plastic Bottles
The survey gives an insight into why some UK local authorities still do not collect plastic bottles for recycling. RECOUP can then use this valuable information to identify, and work to overcome the associated barriers.
REASONS GIVEN FOR NOT RECYCLING PLASTIC BOTTLES
78% of local authority recycling managers that do not recycle plastic bottles identify insufficient funding as the primary obstacle. Previous work has shown that this can relate to a lack of capital funding, revenue funding, or both. This year less than 10% of those not operating schemes are not confident in the market, or are unconvinced of the environmental benefits.
These attitudes are significantly different to the responses in our 1999 survey. Since 1999 the perception of barriers has changed. The number of recycling managers concerned about lack of markets, environmental benefits, or lack of access to information has more than halved.
RECOUP communications last year targeted the issues of poor perception of markets, environmental impact and know-how. These results indicate that this work has been effective. Clearly the perception of cost is the barrier to developing new schemes. Recent announcements of further finance by Central Government for recycling programmes combined with strengthening plastics PRN income (packaging industry financial support) will help address this issue.
RECOUP will this year be addressing economic issues by benchmarking scheme economics and ensuring that councils have accurate perceptions of the affordability of plastic bottle recycling programmes.
Plastic bottle recycling is now increasingly affordable and should be considered as part of an effective local waste management programme.
Kerbside Collection Schemes
There are 125 kerbside schemes across the UK that accept plastic bottles. This equates to approximately 3.6 million households in the UK with plastic bottle collection facilities on their doorstep - an increase of 28% since 1999.
Four main collection containers are used, with the kerbside box and supplied bag used by 68% of households with a kerbside scheme.
The average reported participation rate in the UK for a kerbside collection is 60%, although there are variations between each of the container options.
The participation rate is generally higher for the larger capacity containers. This may be because a larger container provides the householder with a constant visual reminder to participate in the collection scheme.
The carrier bag has the lowest performance of the specified collection options, which may again be related to the absence of a distinctive visual identifier of the scheme within the home.
Recovery rates of plastic bottles collected using the box and supplied bag have increased in previous years while the wheel bin has shown a decreasing recovery rate since 1997.
The 2000 data shows that the box material recovery has continued to increase - reaching, on average, over 4kg for each household in a year (kg/hh/yr).
The supplied bag has also increased to 3 kg/hh/yr. However, the wheel bin has reversed previous trends and averaged 2.35 kg/hh/yr according to this years results. The reason for this is that a number of high performing kerbside schemes using wheel bins have now been established, and this has affected the overall average.
There is insufficient data to suggest whether these results imply causality - i.e. other factors such as different collection frequencies may be responsible for the varying performance of these collection container systems.
How kerbside collection frequency influences recovery rate
The single most significant factor of operational design is the frequency of collection from the household. Weekly and fortnightly collections show the highest average plastic bottle yield per household in a year. This data has important implications for collection scheme design.
Average weekly collections are 15% greater than average fortnightly collections. This data implies that kerbside collections on a fortnightly basis maximise cost-effective performance, until all suitable households in the council area have been offered the kerbside collection service. Only once this has occurred will the move to weekly collections be a cost-effective method of increasing the recovery rate further, assuming other factors remain constant.
Average fortnightly collections are 5-10 times greater than monthly or, for example, third week collections. This implies that a fortnightly kerbside collection scheme covering 10-20% of an area will generate a greater total tonnage than a three weekly, four weekly or monthly collection of 100% area.
The twice weekly, third week, monthly and 5th week frequencies are included for completeness of reporting. It should be noted that the associated data is based on relatively small sample sizes.
Relationship to residual waste collection day
Another factor in scheme design is the relationship between the recyclables and residual waste collection days. The overriding considerations are that the householder must know which day they will be serviced, and the collection must be economically and physically possible by the contractor.
Currently the most common approach is a same day collection using a second vehicle dedicated to collection of recyclables. An increasingly popular option is co-collection; here the same vehicle collects refuse and recyclables on the same day in separate compartments.
The survey shows container size and frequency of collection are loosely related - larger capacity containers are generally collected less frequently.
Alternating weekly collection and same day, different vehicle options recover the greatest amount of plastic bottles through the kerbside collection. On average they report over 1 kg more plastic bottles collected per household in a year than the other options identified. Whilst there are specific schemes where, for example, different day collections recover more than 4kg/hh/year, at this stage we conclude that if the collections are on the same day as traditional refuse collection, the performance of the scheme tends to improve. We propose this is the result of a more memorable and convenient arrangement for the user.
How choice of collection containers relates to collection frequency
A further analysis of the collection frequencies shows a relationship with the collection container type. The supplied bag and kerbside box are not used in schemes where collections are less frequent than fortnightly, while the wheel bin schemes show a wide variation of collection frequencies from weekly to every 5th week - its larger capacity enabling less frequent collections.
We have already shown that collection frequency influences collection performance. These results demonstrate that the summary of scheme performance by choice of container type is skewed to favour the supplied bag, since most supplied bag collections are weekly, whilst most box collections are fortnightly. From this we conclude that, all other factor being equal, a fortnightly box or wheelbin scheme will achieve a higher recovery of plastic bottles than a weekly supplied bag scheme.
Relationship to refuse collection
Looking specifically at the refuse collection choices, the alternate and same day different vehicle options appear to have a positive affect on the amount of plastic bottles recovered through the kerbside scheme. On average they recover over 1 kg more plastic bottles per household in a year than the other options identified.
However, there are specific schemes where, for example, different day collections recover more than 4kg/hh/year, This again suggests that there is a link between refuse collection and plastic bottle recovery, although the amount of influence this factor has compared to the others is unquantifiable.
Frequency of kerbside collection
The relationship to frequency of collection follows a similar trend. The weekly and fortnightly collections show the highest average plastic bottle yield per household in a year, but the other options have proven successful in certain cases.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FREQUENCY AND CONTAINER TYPE
90% of UK kerbside schemes are based on weekly or fortnightly collections, and the popularity of container type used varies considerably. The weekly collection shows that the supplied bag is the favoured container choice (54%). The kerbside box is also predominant (34%) with the wheel bin, carrier bag and other methods such as piggy back bins only occasionally used (10%).
This contrasts somewhat with the fortnightly collections where the kerbside box is clearly the preferred option - being used in half of the schemes. The wheel bin is the next favoured container (21%) - having a larger capacity to deal with less frequent servicing. The supplied bag is also used less often (16%) and the other options are again restricted to a few schemes.
How is the performance of collection schemes distributed?
We have looked in detail at the distribution of scheme performance by container type used. Each container type shows a similar distribution trend with regard to the amount of plastic bottles recovered. There is some variation, though few schemes recover more than 4kg/hh/yr. If a scheme does recover more than this, the container type is most likely to be a kerbside box and will almost certainly not be a carrier bag.
The box has the widest range of recovery rates. Performance is concentrated below 6kg/hh/yr, but also exceeds 10kg/hh/yr in some cases. We believe reasons for high recovery rates may be that the scheme concentrates on a small number of households, participation may be mandatory or the scheme may be particularly effectively marketed.
The wheel bin is likely to recover up to 4kg/hh/yr according to the data, but again there specific schemes that do not follow this pattern. Of the specified containers, the wheel bin shows the greatest number of households recovering least plastic bottles (<0.5kg/hh/yr), and also shows the most dramatic decrease from this point.
The supplied bag is most likely to recover between 1.5 and 3 kg plastic bottles yearly per household while the carrier bag will generally not recover more than 2kg/hh/year.
This data shows that collection rates of up to 5 times the reported averages are being achieved. The challenge is to enhance scheme performance and maximise the effectiveness of the existing infrastructure. These results have implications for how individual schemes benchmark their own performance. We recommend schemes achieving less than, say, 1.5kg per household per annum should review their approach and consider options such as promotion, collection frequency and choice of container.
Collection performance
Bring Collection Schemes
Development of bring collection schemes
At the end of 2000, 4115 plastic bottle collection banks were operating on 2851 sites throughout the UK, covering a total of 165 local authority areas.
Bring schemes rely on siting collection containers at convenient locations where householders can bring and deposit their materials. Factors influencing performance include site location, the number of sites in relation to the population served and the presence of a kerbside collection scheme in the same area.
Choice of collection banks
A wide variety of collection banks are employed. The choice of collection bank determines the capacity of the bank, the subsequent frequency and method of collection and the susceptibility of the system to abuse, for example through vandalism or depositing items other than plastic bottles.
The most popular bring container types are the 1100 litre wheel bin and the 8 and 10 cubic yard bank. The large number of other containers highlights the diversity of collection methods employed and includes systems ranging from recycling pavillions to bulk skips.
The average annual recovery per container ranges from 1500kg to 7000kg depending on the chosen container type. The average annual collection per m3 of capacity provided is 1571kg/m3/yr. As indicated above, actual performance will be influenced by a series of other design factors and local demographics.
Strategic siting of collection facilities can increase the collection level and reduce the potential for damage to banks. Evidence from other RECOUP research shows that supermarket/retail sites and high density close-to-home sites offer the greatest opportunities for maximising collection rates.
Bring Schemes
Collection performance
How does site density influence collection scheme performance?
We have examined the impact of the number of sites and the number of households served on the levels of plastic bottle collecting achieved. Not surprisingly as the number of sites - and therefore convenience of access increases, so does the recovery rate per household.
This years survey quantifies these trends for the first time. This data gives the best available information to enable recycling managers planning or benchmarking their scheme to estimate a target recovery level. There is wide variability in the results and the correlation is loose - indicating other factors such as local demographics, choice of sites, and promotion are also at work; i.e. a well promoted scheme using easy accessible, convenient sites will perform better than the average figures indicated here.
Not surprisingly, bring schemes operating in areas which also have plastic bottle collections using a kerbside system achieve lower recovery rates than a comparative bring scheme in an area with no kerbside. However, it is important to note that the combination of bring scheme and kerbside scheme in the same area outperforms an equivalent kerbside-only collection scheme. We conclude that a kerbside collection supported by accessible bring sites will maximise collections of plastic bottles in an area.
What are Councils Spending on Plastic Bottle Recycling?
This year RECOUP reports for the first time on the expenditure that is attributed by local authority recycling managers to plastic bottles within their recycling programmes.
A broad relationship can be observed between the annual budget and material recovery. The first observation is that regardless of the budget bracket, performance (as measured by tonnes collected) varies significantly within each budget band. Relating cost to recovery is a complex science as issues such as locality, household/population density, equipment availability, choice of collection methods and market demand for collected materials influence the recycling scheme costs. We conclude that the wide variation of reported spend vs performance may be attributable to varying cost allocation principles being applied and/or the value for money of schemes varies very widely.
The mid 80% of results are taken, to reflect a the typical reported cost profile of schemes and to mitigate the effects of untypical accounting practices or the disproportionate effect of very small scale operations.
RECOUP has other evidence of wide ranging actual and perceived economics of scheme operation. Combined with this data the picture is of, at the very least, inflated perceptions of actual costs being a barrier to new scheme introduction, or to challenge and target improvements in efficiency. RECOUP is aware of schemes currently operating at a net cost in excess of 1000 per tonne. On the basis of the above, any scheme manager experiencing net costs attributable to plastic bottle recycling in excess 350/tonne should review operational practice as there are likely to be ways to significantly increase collection levels.
It is worth noting that established mainland European plastic bottle collection schemes are operating successfully on a large scale at 225/tonne - around 1p per bottle recycled - and new technologies are leading to further improvements in the cost-effectiveness of these schemes.
We conclude from this analysis of economics that if the current expenditure currently deployed nationally in plastic bottle recycling were focussed into best practice schemes of an appropriate scale, a significantly higher recycling rate would be achievable.
This information highlights the value of greater training combined with more analytical operational management practices. RECOUP will this year be working to improve the efficiency of post-consumer plastics recycling by communicating understanding of typical and targets economics, and demonstrating UK and international experiences of best practice to recycling professionals.
Recycling schemes should be designed to recover the maximum amount of material, but cost can become an over riding issue and restrict the material recovery. For plastic bottles in particular, a relationship can be observed between the annual budget and material recovery. The first observation is that regardless of the budget bracket, there are schemes that show a low kg/year material return. It is also apparent that budgets between 5000 and 10 000 generally under perform, especially when compared to the other budget groups.
Relating cost to recovery is a complex science as issues such as locality, household/population density, equipment availability, suitable recycling facilities and material demand can affect the recycling scheme costs. Every recycling scheme operates within a unique local authority area and although comparisons can be made, this alone makes each and every plastic recycling scheme individual and further re iterates that there is not a universal formula to a successful kerbside recycling scheme.
When comparing the budget bracket to recovered plastic bottles per household, the amount of material generally rises as the budget increases. However, there are still wide variations and although a larger budget provides the potential for higher plastic recycling rates, it does not guarantee increased recovery. The data is plotted in the form of an average recovery rate per household per annum for each scheme. Therefore, the participation rate clearly has a major influence on the findings. The average participation rate for voluntary kerbside schemes is 62%, so achieving higher participation rates across the UK would lead to more plastic bottle recycling and decrease the / tonne ratio.
Plastic Bottle Recycling Schemes: The Future
The RECOUP survey not only identifies current plastic bottle The data for bring and kerbside facilities in 2001 show a recycling facilities, but also monitors planned developments. continued increase, albeit at a slower rate. But as indicated From the survey results, it has been possible to predict the above, previous survey predictions have been inferior when future growth of plastic bottle recycling schemes in the UK. compared to the actual data. The bring and kerbside growth graphs are based solely on survey data. The table below converts The 1999 survey estimated that there would be 3.3 million the 2000 survey data into a 2001 RECOUP prediction based on an households served by a kerbside collection including plastic inferred 5% increase. bottles, and almost 4000 plastic bottle banks by the end of 2000. These benchmarks have been surpassed by 8% and 5% respectively. Furthermore, the 1998 predictions have been elevated by approximately 15%.
|
SCHEME TYPE |
SURVEY DATA |
2001 PREDICTION (5% increase) |
|
BRING (banks) |
4224 |
4435 |
|
KERBSIDE (households) |
3725124 |
3911380 |
The Future
The increase in plastic bottle recovery since 1994 has been dramatic. In 2000, an estimated 12,715 tonnes of plastic bottles were recycled in the UK - that equates to 254 million plastic bottles.
Over 13,000 tonnes of plastic bottles are expected to be recycled in 2001. The predictions suggest that the recovery amount will remain constant through 2002, though RECOUP fully anticipate a continued plastic bottle recovery increase as more local authorities become committed to plastic bottle recycling.
The continued increase in UK plastic bottle recovery will rely on a number of elements including; the implementation of new plastic schemes, the extension of existing schemes, and recent schemes becoming established. Increased public awareness of general environmental issues, and more specifically of plastic bottle recycling will also help to recover more plastic bottles.
RECOUP Comment
A fundamental part of successful plastic bottle recycling is the promotion of schemes. Why not try :-
- PROMOTE Simple Rinse and Squash! and Step on It! messages -crushing bottles increases recovery capacity and reduces collection costs.
- COMMUNICATE Many people do not participate in recycling schemes because they dont know they exist, or what to do. Choose simple messages that sell the scheme and reinforce them regularly.
- PARTNERSHIP Work with collection operators to identify and respond to those households who set out the wrong materials. 80% of contamination comes from 20% of your users.
- MARKETING Communication strategy and scheme operations are equally important. Studies show that a long term marketing program is absolutely vital to maximise the efficiency and performance of your collection programme.
RECOUP Membership
More and more companies are recognising the value of RECOUP and RECOUP membership. In addition to demonstrating their commitment to plastics recycling in the UK, members receive a variety of benefits including:
- Free and discounted training, education and promotional materials
- Updates on all aspects of expanding plastic bottle recovery systems throughout the UK and beyond
- Growth of plastics recycling levels - essential to meeting legislative targets in the most cost-effective manner
- Market and technical Information
- Involvement in policy development for plastic bottle recycling
- Assistance with recovery and educational promotions
- Advice and assistance for transportation of baled materials
- Information on second life plastic products
- Assistance with feasibility and design studies for collecting/sorting - at preferential rates
- Regular bulletins on current legislation relating to packaging recovery
- Opportunities for local and national corporate/brand promotion
- Preferential rates at RECOUP events
A real strength of RECOUP is that it is a broadly based body supported by members from all sectors of the packaging supply and recycling industry.
Get in touch and find out what RECOUP can do for you.
Our members provide the foundations for RECOUP initiatives
More and more organisations are recognising the value of RECOUP membership.
As well as demonstrating their commitment to plastics recycling in the UK, RECOUP members receive a range of additional benefits.
Find out how your organisation can benefit from being a RECOUP member by contacting RECOUP using the details given at the bottom of the back cover.
AL Group Wheaton
Andy Moore
Antrim Borough Council
ASDA Stores Limited
Aylesbury Vale District Council
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Bexley Council
Biffa Waste Services Limited
Blaby District Council
Boston Borough Council
BP Amoco Chemicals
Bracknell Forest Borough Council
Braintree District Council
Britvic Soft Drinks Limited
Caerphilly County Borough Council
Canterbury City Council
Cardiff County Council
Chester City Council
Chichester District Council
Chiltern District Council
City of York Council
Cleanaway Limited
Coca-Cola Enterprises Limited
Colchester Borough Council
Cornwall County Council
Daventry District Council
David Naylor
Delleve Plastics Limited
Dorset County Council
DuPont SA
East Ayrshire Council
Eastman Chemicals b.v
East Northamptonshire District Council
Elida Faberge Limited
Epping Forest District Council
Erewash Borough Council
Flintshire County Council
Focsa Services (UK) Limited
Glasgow City Council
GlaxoSmithKline PLC
Grabor Plastics Limited
Greenlight Environmental Ltd
Halton Borough Council
Henkel Home Improvements & Adhesive
Products
Husky Injection Moulding Systems (UK) Ltd
Hydro Polymers Limited
Islington Borough Council
Janet Humphrey
John Woods (L) Limited
J Sainsbury plc
Kent County Council
Lancaster City Council
Leicester City Council
Leicestershire County Council
Lever Brothers Limited
Linpac Plastics Recycling
London Borough of Havering
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Sutton
Loughborough University
Luton Borough Council
M & H Plastics
Marks & Spencer plc
Measom Freer & Co Ltd
Melton Borough Council
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
Milton Keynes Council
New Forest District Council
Nissei ASB Limited
Northampton Borough Council
North Cornwall District Council
North East Lincolnshire Council
ONYX Hampshire Limited
Pearsons (Thetford) Limited
Pennine Fibre Industries
Petlon Polymers Limited
PET Plas Packaging Limited
Plastic Omnium Urban Systems Limited
Plymouth City Council
Plysu plc
Powys County Council
Princes Soft Drinks Ltd
Reclaim
REPRISE Limited
Rethmann Recycling UK Ltd
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Rohm & Haas (UK) Limited
RPC Containers Limited
Rutland County Council
Salisbury District Council
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Severn Waste Services
Sidel SA
Slough Borough Council
South Molton Recycle Limited
South Norfolk Council
Stafford Borough Council
Stroud District Council
TESCO Stores Limited
Tetra Pak UK
Three Rivers District Council
United Closures & Plastics PLC
Vale of Glamorgan Council
Wellman International Limited
West Wiltshire District Council
Wicklow County Council
Worcestershire County Council
Worthing Borough Council
Wrace Technologies
RECOUP - maximising the number of UK consumers who can enthusaistically recycle their plastic packaging and realise affordable environmental benefits
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