Sustainable Plastics - January/February 2022 - 26

sustainability
Good
intentions
are not
enough
There is growing awareness and alarm at the impact humans
are having on the planet. The COP26 meeting last year in
Glasgow attracted global leaders, worldwide media and
activists in their thousands. In order to meet our climate
goals, we need to rapidly shift to a more circular economy
and reduce our reliance on traditional single-use plastics.
Technology and policy will play a key role in this transition.
By Dr Eleanor Maciver, Mewburn Ellis LLP
In England, one of the first
T
he drive for a more
sustainable plastic future
will require many
diff erent approaches.
These can be broadly categorised
as reduce, reuse and recycle.
Whilst it is acknowledged
that consumers have a role to
play, it is also clear more is required.
Consumers can help
drive change, but technology
and policy, too, will be key pieces
of the puzzle.
Policy and legislation
The legislative situation diff ers
from region to region, and from
country to country.
In the U.K., the situation is a
bit complicated. Waste processing
is dealt with separately by
each constituent country of the
U.K. (the so-called " devolved
governments " ), overlaid with
U.K.-wide regulation derived
from EU Directives. The good
news is that all the devolved
governments are taking similar
steps to reduce plastic waste.
26
legislative steps toward reducing
single-use plastics was a
small charge payable on single-use
plastic shopping bags
in 2015, a scheme subsequently
rolled out in other U.K. countries.
This was followed in 2020 with a
ban on the sale of plastic straws,
stirrers and plastic-stemmed
cotton buds in England.
The U.K. government recently
passed legislation which
will impose a U.K.-wide tax on
plastic packaging that contains
less than 30% recycled plastic
from April 2022. The aim is to
increase demand for recycled
plastics which in turn stimulates
increased levels of recycling
and collection of plastic waste.
In November 2021, the
long-awaited Environment Bill
became law in the U.K. This
bill includes a raft of measures
aimed at guiding the U.K. to a
more circular economy. Some
examples include encouraging
recycling through deposit return
schemes, the use of more
January/February 2022
Eleanor Maciver
reusable materials, and ensuring
manufacturers pay the full
costs of managing and recycling
their packaging waste.
From a consumer perspective,
the Environment Bill also
sets out plans for more consistent
recycling collections
between areas of the U.K. and
clearer labelling of products
with details of their recyclability.
The overall aim is to reduce
the confusion caused by current
recycling systems and enable
households to recycle more.
Even before the Environment
Bill was passed, U.K. stakeholders
in the private sector were
taking action to reduce plastic
waste. The U.K. Plastics Pact
(signed, voluntarily, by parties
representing 85% of the plastic
packaging industry in the U.K.)
sets out a number of targets for
2025, including the elimination
of problematic or unnecessary
single-use plastic packaging
through redesign, innovation
or alternative delivery models.
Pact members will stimulate
innovation and new business
models and help build a stronger
recycling system in the U.K.
In the EU, the European
Green Deal outlines a growth
strategy which at its core aims
to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and increase sustainability.
One of the action groups
is the Circular Plastics Alliance,
which aims to boost the EU
market for recycled plastics to
10 million tonnes by 2025.
In terms of legislation, the
EU Single-Use Plastics (SUP)
Directive 2019/904 contains a
suite of broader restrictions on
single-use plastic items within
the EU. The directive was
transposed into national laws
in member states and applies
as of 03 July 2021, although
many of the measures are to be
phased in gradually.
The current legislative eff orts
are admirable, and it is encouraging
to see that broader industry
is pushing for more.
However, legislation is necessarily
limited in scope and
Sustainable Plastics - January/February 2022

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