Veolia has said its “doors are open” to manufacturers wanting help to make their packaging more recyclable.
Estelle Brachlianoff, senior executive vice-president of Veolia UK and Ireland, made the offer at the official opening of the company’s plastics facility in Dagenham, on the site of the failed Closed Loop business.
The facility produces around 10,000 tonnes of food-grade HDPE pellets annually, employs 30 people and processes 200 million plastic milk bottles that Veolia collects annually.
Brachlianoff said that if the 44% of plastic bottles not reclaimed in the UK were collected and recycled, it would save approximately 300,000 tonnes of materials.
“I’m a firm believer that the solution to making all plastics easily recyclable and increasing the percentage of recycled material in packaging lies in collaboration.
“As the public’s awareness of packaging and recycling continues to rise, we hope to see more of the supply chain working together to solve the packaging puzzle – and our doors are open to any manufacturer wishing to discuss how we can recycle packaging more easily by working together.”
The company released research by YouGov suggesting consumers are becoming more aware of sustainable packaging.
Over half of respondents (51%) said they would favour a new drink – of a similar price, quality and flavour – in a recyclable bottle over their original drink purchase if its packaging was unrecyclable.
Three-in-ten adults considered recyclable packaging ‘important’ when choosing a drink to buy – more than the brand (26%) and the aesthetics of the bottle (9%).
Veolia says the survey highlights the need for manufacturers, retailers, regulators and experts in the recycling sector to work together to make more packaging easily recyclable.
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Readers' comments (1)
Iain Ferguson21 September, 2017 8:42 am
We at the Co-op have already had a huge amount of help from Veolia and other waste management companies. They are always open to discussion about what direction to take. Their input has helped us to formulate our plans to deliver our ambition to make all of our packaging easy to recycle.
It's always much better to find out whether you have a problem in this way than to find your packaging branded as a disaster on the front page of a national daily.
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