Plastic recycling news from the world of waste in July

It’s time for the next instalment of our news round-up blog series, bringing you the latest interesting developments from the plastic waste and recycling industry.

With new reports showing the decrease in the purchasing of plastic bags in UK supermarkets to the Coca-Cola Company moving away from green PET plastic, there’s a lot to catch up on in the world of waste! Find out more below…

PepsiCo funnels funding into plastic recycling innovation projects

The European innovation arm of PepsiCo has allocated funding across start-ups that are looking to scale sustainability solutions for their supply chains.

Each organisation will be given the chance to trial its solution with PepsiCo’s value chain, with opportunities to identify and scale applications in 2023 and beyond. Further to PepsiCo’s recycling efforts, it is also supporting B Corp-certified UBQ Materials, as it works to scale a chemical recycling process for unsorted household waste – including plastics which are not yet recyclable.

10p bag charge turns the tide on plastic waste

New figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) show that the 10p carrier bag charge has helped to cut plastic waste and transform consumer shopping habits.

The new data released has shown that the number of plastic bags purchased in main supermarkets has decreased by 20% from 627 million in 2019/20 to 496 million in 2021/22.

Sprite is ditching its iconic green bottle

Starting from August 2022, the Coca-Cola Company — which produces Sprite — will start to package its drink bottles in clear plastic bottles in North America rather than using green PET plastic.

One of the firm’s goals is to increase the supply of recycled plastic that it produces so the organisation can then make use of this for future bottles. By removing the iconic green colour from the drink bottles, the quality of the recycled material improves, enabling it to be recycled for longer.

“Plastic recycling does work” says the Recycling Association

Contrary to the Big Plastic Count, The Recycling Association has released a statement confirming that the recycling of plastics does work.

Chief executive of The Recycling Association, Simon Ellin, said: “For decades we have seen products made from plastic that are hard to recycle, and that isn’t the fault of the recycling system, but those who designed and made these products in the first place.

“Thankfully, many responsible companies are now seeing the benefit of single-polymer type packaging, or single fibre alternatives, and are moving in a direction of using easy-to-recycle materials.”

The response has arisen due to the negative statement released by the Big Plastic Count at the end of July.

That’s all this month, keep up to date with our favourite news stories next month, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, for more recycling updates and news from Indigo Environmental.