British Prime Minister Theresa May announced recently that it will phase out all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years, which is one of the goals of the government's new environmental strategy.
China has had a great impact on the UK this year when it imposed a ban on imports of plastic waste, etc. On average, 65% of all plastic waste exported to Britain from 2012 to 2016 was shipped to China, equivalent to 500,000 tons per year.
"This is a big blow to us, meaning there will be major changes in our industry." Simon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said: 'For the past two decades, we Relying on China to process our waste, including 55% of waste paper and 25% of plastic, is currently not capable of handling most of the waste. "He urged the British government to invest in new recycling plants and infrastructure.
The government declared war on plastic
On January 11, at a conference called "Building a Greener and Greener Britain" program on environmental protection, Teresa May announced plans to include the use of plastic products for universal payment in the UK and the government's efforts to increase the funding of plastics Scientific and technological innovation and institutional reform of products The government will take restrictive actions in each phase of plastic production and consumption by introducing plastic-free access in supermarkets and increasing consumption tax on disposable plastic items such as take-out boxes.
Teresa May stressed that plastic wastes are one of the most serious pollution problems that can not be ignored in Britain today, and when asked about the impact of the EU on environmental protection, she said she will not lead to lower environmental standards and said Britain will formulate a new The plan of the world's leading independent statutory body to hold the government accountable.
Michael Gove, the UK environment minister, said he is considering charging £ 0.25 for a disposable coffee cup and that his long-term plan is to reduce the share of plastics in the economy, reduce the amount of plastic, and simplify local authorities and regulations, People can more easily determine what is recoverable and non-recoverable and increase recovery rates, saying that Britain must "stop sending it to overseas."
The industry group Europe Plastics estimated in 2014 that Britain used a total of 3.7 million tons of plastic per year and that the UK House of Commons Environmental Monitoring Committee also proposed that Britain should levy a tax on plastic packaging and impose the highest tax on the most difficult plastics to be recycled, Least recycled is the least expensive, with the UK levying a single-use plastic bag (5p / s) on large stores and supermarkets in 2015, resulting in a 83% drop in the number of disposable plastic bags.
Starbucks, the coffee chain, announced that it will try disposable cups at 20 to 25 stores in central London for £ 0.05, set to start in February for at least three months.
The UK supermarket chain, Iceland, has vowed to completely ban plastic from its own branded products within five years and replace all plastic packaging with pulp-made trays.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, also plans to introduce new drinking fountains and bottling facilities in the UK capital to reduce the use of disposable packaging such as bottled plastic.
For the EU's new plastics strategy released on the 22nd, a spokesman for the UK Department of Environment responded that the EU's strategy lags behind the UK in some aspects.
'Although the European Union is now studying the limitations of micro-plastics, we have banned the use of plastic beads in personal care products, which is the first country in Europe to do so,' said the spokesman. 'And we do not just want to make sure that plastic packaging It is recyclable and we want to eliminate altogether the plastic wastes that can be avoided. Addressing the scourge of plastics is an important part of our green UK Brexit program. '
The 25-year plan set by the British Ministry of the Environment up to 151 pages, in addition to plastic waste problem, also covers land use and soil health, climate change and air quality issues, to encourage people to make better use of green space and nature.
John Sauven, Greenpeace UK's executive director, said the UK environment requires a 25-month contingency plan rather than a 25-year vision. "Teresa May has a unique opportunity to meet the challenge of making Britain a global environmental player Leaders should not be wasted, 'he said.
Enterprises explore new business opportunities
Clean Tech, based in Lincolnshire, England, the only plant in the UK that uses recycled plastic bottles for the production of food grade recycled plastics PET, said one official at the plant said it is difficult for companies to succeed in the recycled plastics industry because of the large Of the capital investment, and face huge technical challenges.
Plastipak, the parent company of the company, is Europe's largest producer of recycled plastic bottles, and Plastipak's spokesman said all of the company's three plants in the United Kingdom, Berne and France in Luxembourg are facing challenges and need urgent reforms to keep the recycled plastics In domestic processing.
'This should be a growth industry as well as a business adventure, with a big hurdle being the cost of raw materials being lower than the cost of recycled plastics, in part because of low oil prices.' "The spokesman explained that in the UK, due to poor recycling systems, Lack of inventory to create recycled plastic.
Recycling Technologies, a British recycling company, invented a technology that chemically low-quality plastic scrap can be made into a fuel the company called Plaxx. This fuel is said to be very versatile and can be used as a raw material for new plastic .
Adrian Griffiths, the company's head of operations, acknowledged that there is no shortage of recyclables currently available to make such plastics, and said that all plastic waste that is currently being sent to landfills can be turned back into raw materials, Because of the very low recovery rate nowadays, the majority of the public has not thrown these plastic waste into the right bins, saying the recycling industry now needs to allocate more funds to deal with the problem of the global excess of waste after China imposes a ban on imports.