Supermarket recycling scheme
The British Retail Consortium has today confirmed plans regarding its supermarket recycling scheme which will see the plastic used for bread bags, cereal liners and to connect cans in the multipacks collected by all supermarkets across the UK. When you consider that this particular supply of plastic equates to around 645,000 tonnes a year, or 43% of all plastic household waste in the UK, there is massive scope for a reduction in UK plastic landfill figures.
This scheme has been on the backburner for some time now as many of the UK supermarkets were unwilling to commit due to potential cost issues. However, an agreement has now been reached with regards to a new scheme named the On Pack Recycling Label which will be introduced to supermarkets in the UK in the short to medium term. There is no doubt that when you bear in mind the figures in question this will have a major impact upon the UK government’s recycling statistics and recycling rates.
For many years now there has been a bone of contention between consumers, the government and the supermarkets in the UK over who should foot the bill for recycling costs. It seems that supermarkets are now more willing than ever to take their fair share of the “blame” with regards to the UK landfill issue and recycling rates. It will be interesting to see how successful this particular scheme will be!