Plastic

Overview

Plastics are defined as 'any of numerous organic synthetic or processed materials that are mostly thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers of high molecular weight and that can be made into objects, films, or filaments' ^[1]. Although plastics present many benefits, plastic waste, generally, does not decompose and therefore persists in the environment presenting a variety of wide-reaching environmental issues, polluting soils, rivers and oceans, and harming the creatures that inhabit them ^[2].

Plastic waste being sent to Landfill is decreasing; between 2012 and 2016 the tonnage dropped from 122,400 to 53,400. This is due to an increase in plastic waste being recycled or sent to Energy Recovery, with these treatment methods dealing with 91% of plastic waste in 2016 and the remainder 9% being sent to landfill^[2].

The current focus in the media on the harm that plastic causes in the environment often does not consider the benefits that plastics can bring in a number of ways, including food preservation. The debate on the merits or otherwise of plastics use, and alternatives, is gathering momentum in the UK at present.

Macro Tonnage

The most recent information published by DEFRA ^[3] ^[4]is summarized in the pie chart below, with 1,528,527 tonnes of plastic wastes generated in the UK in 2016 as part of the broader tonnage reported in UK Waste Tonnage:

File:Plastic Waste Pie Chart.png

Plastic Wastes - Tonnage Reported as Generated by DEFRA 2016

The macro numbers above under report the total plastics put into the market as the macro numbers exclude tonnage in mixed categories. The macro numbers also do not breakdown the component elements of plastic, but the following headers in the page are the materials as handled by local authorities and as reported through WasteDataFlow.

WRAP in their most recent report ^[5] identify 2,400,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste placed on the market in 2017 (of which around 550,000 tonnes was collected by local authorities) with a further 2,500,000 tonnes of non-packaging plastic primarily from the construction sector. The report further breaks down the tonnage and polymer mix in the plastic packaging waste placed on the market.

The total plastics placed on the market therefore at the WRAP figure of 4,900,000 tonnes represents 2.2% of total UK Waste Tonnage but when taking out of consideration the categories of mineral waste (from construction and demolition and mines and quarries), soils, dredging spoils and sludges it represents 7.1% of total waste generated.

The headers below presently only capture the tonnage collected and reported by loacal authorities through WasteDataFlow.