Recycling yoghurt pots and food trays

The UK government is set to introduce new regulations to local councils which will see plastic items such as yoghurt pots and food trays collected separately in the future. While many local councils currently collect and recycle various plastic containers and bottles it is estimated that over 1,000,000 tonnes of plastic materials such as yoghurt pots and food are still being sent to landfill each and every year.

The UK government is looking to increase the recycling of yoghurt pots and food trays to over 40,000 tonnes a year by 2011. This will significantly reduce the pressure on landfill sites which are also attracting more and more recycling tax from the UK government and the EU. However, there are concerns that UK consumers, already in possession of various recycling bins, will be loathe to begin separating yet more individual products from their waste. The UK government has offered £2 million to any one council or private company which can bring about a scheme to hit the 40,000 tonne target by 2011.

When you consider where the UK recycling industry has come from, i.e. rock bottom over the last few years, to where we are today there has been significant improvement but there is still a long way to go.

Tags: Recycling yoghurt pots and food trays

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.