UK plastic bottle recycling rate shows sharp growth

Collection of plastic bottles for recycling in the UK has reached a 25% rate, equivalent to 3.3bn bottles, with 92% of local authorities now offering facilities, according to a new study of local authority programmes.

Funded by Wrap and carried out by Recoup, the study found that 60% of authorities now offer kerbside collections for plastic bottles, meaning that 13.9m households are being offered this facility. It also demonstrated a sharp year on year rise of 2kg in the weight of plastics bottles collected from each household, taking the average from 5.5kg to 7.5kg. Overall, the UK is now collecting 132,000 tonnes of plastics bottles, one quarter of the total consumption figure.

The current recycling rate compares with a figure of just 3% in 2001. But Wrap plastics technology manager Paul Davidson warns: “Three out of every four plastic bottles are still not being collected for recycling, so there needs to be a focus on good practice and remove scheme inefficiencies to optimise current systems.”

Some households are generating more than 20kg of plastics bottles year, according to the survey, which covered 471 local authorities.

Bring schemes are being offered by 77% of the UK’s authorities, the survey found, with half operating both bring and kerbside programmes.

In 2008, survey responses show, the collection figure will hit 150,000 tonnes, equivalent to a recycling rate of 28%.