Easy kerbside collections for consumers that focus on consistent quality are essential if the UK is to boost plastics recycling rates and meet current targets.

Investment in infrastructure is also needed to enable the collection of a wider range of plastic packaging at the kerbside as that is the only way to achieve the volumes required for successful recycling, says Richard McKinlay, Axion’s Head of Circular Economy.

The UK Plastics Pact, which aims to deliver a circular economy for plastics, sets out four defined targets by 2025 to tackle the issue of plastic waste across the entire supply chain. Key targets state that 70% of plastics packaging is effectively recycled or composted with a 30% average recycled content across all plastic packaging.

Responding to current Government consultation on ‘Consistency in Household and Business Recycling Collections in England’, Richard states: “While it’s good to have ambitious targets, without a shift in focus and investment in infrastructure, these targets won’t be reached.

“In the UK we are using the existing infrastructure which was designed around the economics of recycling. In Belgium, they have taken a decision that their existing facilities are no longer fit for purpose and have invested in multiple new plants to recycle plastic packaging. This radical step change is likely the only way to achieve our targets.

“Consumers are being bombarded with new bespoke collection scheme options. While these models work well for businesses, they are not always suitable for consumers and few are likely to participate. We need to recycle at the kerbside and keep it simple to avoid confusion.”

To get more consistent collections, the focus of the message should be changed to encourage collecting all packaging types, but of a better quality, he suggests: “Communicating that packaging needs to be empty, not stacked, not contaminated and crushed, where possible, rather than focusing on the particular types of packaging could yield higher volumes of material at a higher quality.”

Looking ahead, a ‘full reform’ of the recycling infrastructure is needed to tackle all types of packaging waste, including pots tubs and trays (PTT) as well as plastic film. Richard explains: “Our existing recycling facilities were designed some time ago and based around the value of materials then, such as PET and HDPE bottles. Trying to process different materials as well, such as PTT is not going to work and results in lower quality outputs, that end up being exported.

“The aim of recycling is changing from being a profitable business in its own right to tackling the growing volumes of waste and a desire to recycle. Through Extended Producer Responsibility the economic landscape will change, and so must the infrastructure.”

With markets in the Far East closing their doors to UK-exported mixed plastic waste, Richard says the focus should be on the consistent quality of collected materials for recycling. Hence the need to invest in plants capable of sorting all packaging formats collected at the kerbside to achieve volumes to justify the investment in recycling infrastructure.

Richard adds: “In addition to consistency in collections, a consistent process design for sorting plants should also be considered. This would entail all facilities being built to a basic, common specification and using certain processes to achieve a standard specification of output, or, preferably, better.

“Consumers will become fatigued with the ever growing list of bespoke collection schemes for niche products, which collect minimal tonnage in an inefficient manner. Instead the focus should be on enabling the collection of all packaging at the kerbside, ensuring as much packaging as possible is designed for recycling and sorting this into fractions which can be recycled.”

Adopting Norway’s proposal to amend a global agreement on rules for exporting mixed plastic waste would benefit European plastics recyclers and lead to more investment in infrastructure.

Axion welcomes the proposed changes to the Basel Convention that would set strict quality specifications about exports, saying these would ‘raise the fence’ to prevent export of low-grade materials and ‘force the UK to take responsibility for its own plastic waste’.

The Basel Convention has 187 signatory countries, including the UK, that have signed up to legislation governing the classifications and export of hazardous wastes around the world. Individual countries, however, can dictate their own rules for the classification of waste for import purposes.

Last year, amid concerns over exports of poorly-segregated waste plastics to the Far East/non-OECD countries and ocean plastics, Norway put forward an amendment to the B3010 ‘Green list’ to restrict shipments to higher-quality, single polymer materials. B3010 dictates what types of plastics can be exported and there are stringent rules about material specification to be included on the list. Any mixed plastics bales that fail to meet the strict B3010 quality standard will automatically fall under a system of ‘pre-informed consent’ and be managed in a similar way to hazardous waste shipments.

The amendment would mean that bales of rigid mixed plastic, for example, which are usually very low-quality material, would no longer be acceptable for widespread export. The UK currently exports significant quantities of this material. The proposal also calls for the restriction of these exports to EU/OECD countries.

If the Norway proposal is adopted by the Basel Conference of the Parties (CoP) at the end of April, it will become law within six months and signatories will have to enact their own laws by the end of the year.

Axion’s Associate Consultant Keith Freegard welcomed the proposal, saying: “It will clean up waste packaging flows – a major cause of ocean plastics – by setting strict quality specifications for exports and clearly put pressure on the waste and recycling sector to raise processing standards.”

However, he expressed concern that the timeframe is not long enough to boost the installed UK capacity for WEEE, ELV and packaging recycling. It will take several years to build new infrastructure, so the UK waste industry will need a managed ramp-down in the proportion of waste plastics being sent for overseas recycling.

“The best place to get a sustainable, resource-efficient and low-risk material supply is from our own recycling infrastructure. And that means delivering good quality material back to the packaging producers. Money raised from PRN system reforms should be invested in the recycling infrastructure to ensure it delivers the quality of material required.”

While Keith suggested a shift from an export-dependent position to a more self-sufficient, technical-based recycling system would be ‘painful for some’, he added: “If we don’t have that push, we’re always going to be stuck where we are relying on cheap exports.

Laura Smith, Axion Polymers’ Commercial Operations Manager says: “Industry has to embrace these changes. We need to get the changes right, robust and for the long-term, ensuring a level playing field for all. They will be part of a package that delivers a UK home-based, secure circular economy.”

The Board of Directors at S Norton & Co Ltd has announced, with a ‘mix of sadness and gratitude’, the resignation of Roger Morton as Managing Director of both S Norton and Axion Recycling.

Roger will leave his full-time employment with both companies on February 28th 2019. However, he will continue in a consultancy role, acting for both companies on a project by project basis, over the coming months.

Roger helped to form Axion in 2001 and the subsequent joint venture with S Norton in 2006. He was appointed Managing Director of S Norton in June 2016. Throughout this time, he has worked tirelessly on the development of waste recycling.

In his role as Managing Director of S Norton, Roger has fulfilled a vital role in the reorganisation of the company, particularly in relation to corporate governance, regulatory compliance as well as organisational and operational matters.

At Axion, it will be ‘business as usual’ with most of the staff who previously reported to Roger now reporting to Judith Clayman, who becomes General Manager. Judith, one of Axion’s original employees, has been Axion’s Finance Manager for many years.

John Norton, Chairman of S Norton & Co Ltd, said: “Axion is at the forefront of recycling plastic from end-of-life vehicles and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), thanks to Roger’s dedicated service, drive and enthusiasm. We are grateful for the changes that Roger has helped us to introduce at S Norton. I am sorry that Roger is leaving us and wish him well for the future.”

Roger commented: “I am sad to be leaving my friends and colleagues at S Norton and Axion. They are both great businesses that are helping to save the planet by recovering vital resources for the future. I am privileged to have been part of this industry.”

He added: “I am particularly grateful to John, Charlie and Matt Norton for their vision, integrity and commitment in supporting Axion as it developed into a sector leader over the past 12 years. They deserve great respect from everyone in the industry. I know that S Norton and Axion will continue to grow and flourish under their leadership.

Founded in 1960, S Norton & Co Ltd is family-run scrap processing business collecting, processing and distributing over one million tonnes of ferrous scrap every year. It has long-established metal recycling operations across the UK in Manchester, London, Liverpool and Southampton, employing a total of 215 people.

Axion Recycling Ltd was founded in 2001 by directors Roger Morton and Keith Freegard, who is also still involved with the business on a part-time consultancy basis.

Axion Polymers is expanding its sales and business development teams across both its Manchester sites in response to rising demand for resource-efficient, high quality recycled polymers.

Commercial Operations Manager Laura Smith is now overseeing the sales and business development functions for the Salford and Trafford Park facilities. She also shares responsibility for business development for the polymer products from Salford with Mark Keenan, Business Development Manager.

Sales and Logistics Manager Amy Stiven heads up sales of all products from both sites, which produce high-grade Axpoly polymers, SRF and aggregates derived from UK end-of-life vehicles and waste electrical goods.

Taking charge of technical development for polymers is Process Development Engineer Pasika Chongcharoenthaweesuk, while Commercial Coordinator Martina Verescakova manages the Duty of Care checks for materials from Axion’s advanced processing plant (SWAPP).

SWAPP Sales Executive Sam Mahoney looks after new business for SWAPP, SRF, aggregates and other materials, as well as looking after existing customers.

Laura commented: “In almost all cases now, we are required to make a technical sell, whether it is for SRF or RDF, or for development products for polymers customers. Our expert team work together to provide an efficient service that is appreciated by our customers”

Having contacted potential polymer customers, Mark works with clients and their production teams to assess how best to run the material on their machines. Results are fed back to the lab where Pasika develops the correct formulations.

Laura added: “It is a similar process for SRF or RDF customers, where we tweak aspects of the process or delivery format/service to meet their needs. Dom Lorimer, SWAPP Operations Manager, delivers any required process development and Martina organises logistics for ‘just in time’ deliveries.”

With research showing that polypropylene (PP) film is readily recyclable, industry needs to plan a viable solution to recover the 100,000 tonnes of this packaging material put on the market every year in the UK.

PP film, used mainly in food packaging such as biscuit and crisp packets, is not currently collected in sufficient quantities and recycled. Yet studies have shown that this material could be recovered and used in a wide range of injection-moulding or extrusion applications, such as non-food packaging, pipes, transit packaging and automotive parts, according to Richard McKinlay, Axion’s Head of Circular Economy.

“Industry needs to devise a solution as there is a considerable amount of this material used in packaging. Although it can be sorted and separated, the correct infrastructure is needed so that PP film can be collected in significant volumes through household kerbside collections, be reprocessed and reused in applications outside of flexibles,” he says.

The real benefit of PP is the ability to modify the flow characteristics and take it from a film to an injection-moulded rigid item, such as packaging for non-food application or high value, performance products such as automotive parts.

Richard explains that it is not necessary to swap PP for PE, saying: “We do not have a suitable recycling structure for post-consumer household PE films and Europe has a surplus of low grade films. The current trend to substitute PP for PE in small format primary packaging is not beneficial from a recycling viewpoint. PE is no easier to recycle, and the issue isn’t from the material but in the difficulty and collecting, separating and cleaning primary packaging formats.

“From a technical point of view, PP films offer greater flexibility at end of life. The difficulty with LDPE films is that you cannot modify the melt characteristics, and so you have to recycle it back into film, which is very demanding from a quality point of view.”

One solution could be to blend the small format household PE and PP films to produce an injection-moulding or extrusion grade polymer. Axion is currently involved in a WRAP project researching end markets for a PE/PP blended material that could potentially go back into rigid applications.

Richard adds: “Many companies have signed up to the WRAP Plastic Pact that will create a circular economy for plastic. By 2025, the targets are 100% of packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable and 70% of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted. If we are to hit those targets, we need not only a solution for film, but a solution for PP film.”

“Recycling PP packaging would help prevent its export and give the material a value, which should help stop it escaping into the natural environment.”

Changing business models for plastic recycling could lead to more profitable businesses, higher grade material on the market and make investment in recycling infrastructure more viable.

A shift away from the ‘traditional’ recycling business model could also potentially open up market opportunities for ‘lower quality’ recyclate, such as that from flexible plastics, according to Richard McKinlay, Axion’s Head of Circular Economy.

“Business models for recycling are changing, and in a beneficial way,” he observes. The sector is shifting away from the ‘old style’ recycling model of ‘buy waste, process it, sell flake/commodity compound’.”

Richard has identified shifts towards two distinct operational models. Some companies are controlling the waste, using it as infeed and producing recyclate from that; along the lines of Axion Polymers’ extraction and processing of plastics from end-of-life vehicles at its SWAPP facility. Others are becoming an ‘end user’ that buys in waste before converting that into a secondary raw material used in their own products.

Fluctuations in infeed or output prices cause difficulties for recyclers. In an ideal world, Richard argues that companies would collect plastic waste directly from households, process it and use the recyclate in new products.

Welcoming the current trend towards investment in or takeovers of recycling businesses by large petrochemical firms, he continues: “This is positive news as they bring stable financial backing and access to an existing customer base, alongside valuable polymer science knowledge and R&D capabilities. All this can aid growth and further development in recycling capability.”

Targeting higher-value markets is another trend that is benefiting the recycling sector. Rather than selling HDPE for piping, for example, firms are improving the quality and selling it for more demanding applications, such as packaging. Richard reckons this gap in supply of lower-grade recyclate could be filled by flexible packaging recycling.

He says: “With a proposed tax on packaging with less than 30% recycled content, there will be a significant increase in demand for high quality material, potentially giving recycled compounds a higher market price than virgin. This should shift recyclate from packaging up the quality ladder, moving it away from applications such as pipes and transport and logistic packaging.

“This movement of recyclate could then open a gap in the market from “lower grade” recycled polymers, such as that produced from flexible packaging. With competition from higher grade HDPE and PP removed, compounds from flexibles could be supplied into these markets, improving the economic argument for recycling flexibles.”

This trend is likely to be stimulated by brand managers needing to incorporate more recycled content for marketing purposes.

Concluding, Richard believes that an ‘interesting’ shift in the nature of recycling business models could herald a new era in the applications of recyclable materials as well as one in which successful companies can thrive.

Brexit could offer fresh opportunities for the UK and its manufacturers to secure their raw material supplies, such as recycled plastics, from a stable domestic market and stimulate a circular flow of materials.

Potential difficulties in transporting material across borders after March 29 2019 could become a driver for growth in the domestic market as purchasers seek to reduce inward material supply chain risk.

Axion Director Roger Morton asserts that freedom from regulatory controls and external policies, coupled with the ability to set our own rules, could encourage greater investment and enable the UK to ‘get ahead of the rest of Europe’ in material recovery and resource security, provided there is strong Government leadership.

Mark Keenan, Axion Polymers Business Development Manager comments: “With 31.5 million cars currently on UK roads, our future end-of-life vehicle feedstock for our recycled polymers is assured. And that can only be good news for UK companies seeking to use locally-sourced plastic raw materials that can go back into a range of products, from new cars and electrical equipment to construction products,” adds Mark.

Roger says: “Brexit is inevitable now. Although complications could arise, we are taking a positive approach. British companies should focus on the opportunity that leaving the EU offers and how we can make the most of our resource sustainable position.”

A good example here, he points out, is steel. With annual consumption (12 Mt) versus annual arisings (11.5 Mt), this market could be much more ‘circular’ than the existing export of scrap/import of finished products model. Similarly, demand creation for the use of recycled polymers in new automotive, electrical and building products could encourage further investment in more processing plants like Axion’s.

While material quality controls, such as REACH regulations and other standards, should remain ‘mirrored with Europe’, Roger suggests there could be an opportunity to ‘take the lead by designing and implementing a set of regulatory measures that drive the transition to a circular economy here’.

Such measures could involve heavily-modulated producer responsibility obligations for brands that make the most effort to change to fully recyclable designs and/or utilise high levels of recycled content. “This would require vision and a brave government with strong leadership” observes Roger, “but in an uncertain world; what’s certain is that material would be available in the UK for use in the UK!”

One of the long-term benefits of Brexit, he says, should be that we can stop mass exports of waste plastic packaging and WEEE, and start investing in recycling infrastructure in the UK as an ‘environmental goal’. While 63% of collected UK plastic packaging resources is currently exported, the country is short of around 10 to 15 large-scale recycling plants to handle that volume.

Plus, we don’t have enough energy-from-waste capacity to handle the low-grade reject plastic stream produced by those plants – around 50% of their waste infeed tonnage. So strategic government thinking and stable long-term policy measures and clear goals for the five to ten years’ will be needed to drive this change.

Roger suggests that there is an opportunity for the UK Government to drive the development of recycling demonstration and pilot ‘pathfinder’ plants once we are free of ’state aid’ regulations that prevent preferential treatment by governments.

He adds: “UK businesses need to wake up to these future possibilities and start talking to suppliers like us that can offer a secure supply of material. It’s competitive on price, performs to the same standard as virgin material – and it’s low carbon!”

“We’ve seen an increase an enquiries in recent months and there’s a lot of interest from UK manufacturers in what we can offer. Despite current uncertainty around Brexit, we remain upbeat about the opportunities to trigger more material moving within the circular economy in the UK!”

Axion Polymers has invested in more laboratory test equipment at its Salford site, including a new injection moulder, that will enable a greater range of polymer testing and further development of recycled polymer grades.

Axion’s in-house test capability now includes a Fourier Transform mid -infrared spectrometer for analysing the composition of black and dark-coloured polymer chips, a near-infrared multi-chip spectrometer for rapid analysis of large quantities of polymer chips and an X-Ray fluorescence analyser for heavy metals and bromine.

The laboratory also has a notched Izod impact tester, a tensile tester and a lab-scale injection moulder to produce test pieces and evaluate moulding performance.

Axion’s Salford plant refines plastics extracted from end-of-life vehicles at its nearby facility at Trafford Park, Manchester. The laboratory investment further enhances Axion’s technical capability in supplying tailored polymers to suit specific end-user requirements, such as modified melt flow, impact resistance and tensile strength.

According to Mark Keenan, Axion Polymers Business Development Manager, the new laboratory equipment ‘provides an improved range and accuracy of results for our customers’. “Optimising the performance and output data demonstrates our on-going commitment to quality, which is at the core of Axion Polymers’ principles,” he says.

“Being able to guarantee consistent quality results and product is so important to all our customers, most of which run their operations 24 hours a day. The new laboratory equipment will ensure we are able to do that.”

The laboratory facilities have been upgraded as part of improved quality control measures and technical product development. Pasika Chongcharoenthaweesuk, Axion’s Polymer Process Development Engineer explains:

“The investment in new laboratory test equipment allows us to achieve reliable data for our polymer quality and process control. This helps to optimise the process, not only to produce a consistent quality product but also to improve the quality and increase the throughput. This has opened up new opportunities for us to develop products suitable for other applications.”

Axion Polymers Commercial Operations Manager Laura Smith says the new injection moulding and test equipment allows the team to develop new grades faster. Laura says: “This investment is excellent for our laboratory as we are always developing new product grades as a result of customer requests. The new equipment enables us to provide much quicker results, thus providing better customer service.”

Setting minimum targets for recycled content in food packaging may sound like a good idea, but could lead to overall less efficient use of resources if material types and their applications are not carefully considered, cautions Richard McKinlay, Head of Circular Economy at Axion.

It’s widely acknowledged that to make recycling more economically viable, an end market ‘pull-effect’ is needed to create the demand for recycled material. Setting minimum ‘recycled content’ targets is one way of stimulating this demand.

Minimum ‘recycled content’ targets would be a positive step for many products, such as automotive parts, groundworks, piping and, in some cases, packaging. However, this approach could be counter-productive in areas such as polypropylene (PP) food packaging.

The technology and infrastructure is not currently available to produce food grade recycled PP from post-consumer household packaging. As a result, if minimum targets are introduced, in the short term, manufacturers would have to move from PP into polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

However, this presents a key issue with PET in pots, tubs and tray applications. As several WRAP studies have shown, the lower quality of PET recycled from pots, tubs and trays makes it unsuitable for many end-use applications. This means you might substitute a recyclable pack that’s good in every other way, but without recycled content, for a pack that may not be as good for recycling yet has recycled content.

Established markets for recycled PP already exist, such as automotive parts and furniture, and these markets can more easily increase recycled content than in packaging applications.

Although research is being done into sorting material using markers to sort food contact from non-food contact PP packaging, and PET thermoform recycling is progressing; in the short term brands, retailers and converters should be able to continue using PP without recycled content – and not be penalised for doing so.

Furthermore, I feel that given the challenges of including recycled content in flexible packaging, a minimum target would be a retrograde step. Manufacturers would be tempted to move back to rigid materials, such as glass or aluminium, which may impact negatively on the complete product lifecycle, through higher transportation costs for example.

Currently, we are in an interesting position where more effort is being put into developing recycling systems and the use of recycled materials. However, we cannot keep switching material format. It’s important that we do the best we can with current infrastructure based on complete product lifecycle economics.

Food safety is the most crucial aspect of packaging; perhaps we should encourage a circular economy approach where virgin polymer is used in food packaging, which is then recycled into non-food packaging and other long-life products.

It’s all about creative thinking around end applications and not worrying so much about closed-loop recycling. The automotive sector offers a big potential market for flexible PP in new end products, as well as secondary packaging applications, such as plastic delivery envelopes.

In the future, targets will be a great help, but we’re not quite there yet. We must ensure that we don’t take ‘one step forward and two steps back’.