Consultants  have collaborated on a sequence of suggestions which calls on Authorities to take the initiative on discovering options to the plastics downside. 

Their suggestions had been printed on 18 March in a Coverage Fee report, “The Sustainable Plastics Coverage Fee: Key findings for the UK authorities”, launched on the Homes of Parliament by Fee Chair, Baroness Molly Meacher.

Talking on the launch, Baroness Meacher mentioned: “Plastics are an necessary useful resource that we can not merely dispense with, however we should handle the consequences of plastic air pollution. Our Authorities is totally key to making sure that we will retain the worth of plastics and lengthen their life by way of modifications to the making and administration of those merchandise.”

The suggestions contained throughout the report embrace revalorising plastic ‘waste’ to assist inexperienced development and incentivise the emergence of subsequent technology plastics manufacturing and recycling applied sciences. The report additionally reveals that there’s a vital alternative for the UK to put money into chemical recycling to satisfy the demand for round merchandise, producing new job alternatives, and retaining plastic within the financial system for longer.

Different suggestions included: 

• Harnessing tax programs to advertise sustainable choices and create a ‘demand’ pull for sustainable choices. 
• Setting targets and incentives to scale back waste incineration and landfilling 
• Guaranteeing nearer regulation of compostable and biodegradable plastics, together with stronger oversight of promoting claims 

• Encouraging greatest practices in public sector procurement, together with protocols on plastics life cycle assessments. 
• Incentives for waste administration our bodies to recirculate plastics, fostering the expansion of recent manufacturing and recycling applied sciences. 
• Funding in strong proof on the human and environmental harms attributable to plastics 
• Institution of a nationwide sustainable plastics innovation analysis centre to drive innovation and encourage long-term, bold pondering.
  

Professor Fern Elsdon-Baker, Director of the Institute for STEMM in Tradition and Society on the College of Birmingham, mentioned: “Our analysis reveals that plastic air pollution is among the many most important issues to the general public. We’d like our policymakers to replicate that concern of their decision-making and guarantee we don’t lag behind different EU international locations in areas comparable to taxation on non-recycled, single-use plastics, and in figuring out and proscribing key hazardous chemical compounds.”

Andrew Dove, Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry on the College of Birmingham, mentioned: “Our report reveals the place progress is being made: the UK’s plastic packaging tax, launched in 2022, for instance, targets plastic packaging with lower than 30 per cent recycled plastic, and the Authorities is because of implement an Prolonged Producer Accountability scheme later this yr. We have to construct on this momentum and reap the benefits of the very best examples set by different international locations, in addition to the analysis and innovation accessible throughout academia and trade.”

Baroness Meacher added: “We should now take steps to implement options which improve our financial system, defend our individuals and surroundings, and place the UK as leaders in plastics administration.”