BPF wary about Defra's packaging recycling target

The BPF Recycling Group (RG) has largely come out in support of Defra's consultation document on packaging recovery and recycling targets but is concerned about the proposal that 57% plastics packaging should be recycled by 2017.

In going further than the 50% plastic recycling aspiration set by the Plastics 20/20 Challenge, the RG is concerned that the magnitude of this proposal is not fully appreciated, both in terms of the volumes involved and also in terms of the issues surrounding the delivery of quality sorted plastics for recycling.

Roger Baynham, chairman of the BPF Recycling Group, said: "National and local government, waste management companies, plastic recyclers, the investment community, and critically retailers and brand owners must work together now to deliver the innovation, technology, enterprise and funding upon which this vision will fundamentally rely."