Welcome back to the NCA blog where we bring you the latest developments from our workshop and offer insights from our experienced teams. In today’s blog we examine a topic which is extremely close to our hearts both professionally and personally – the recycling of plastics.
Why is recycling of plastics so important?
Capturing waste plastic and channelling it into efficient recycling and recovery routes is widely recognised as a key way to reduce costs and environmental impact across the construction, manufacturing and retail sectors in particular. The recyclability of plastic is also one of its key strengths as an extremely resource-efficient material and used plastic should ideally be regarded as a valuable resource rather than ‘waste’.
Recycling plastic:
- Provides a sustainable source of raw materials to the industry
- Greatly reduces the environmental (especially the CO2) impact of plastic-rich products
- Minimises the amount of plastic being sent to the UK’s landfill sites
- Avoids the consumption of the Earth’s oil stocks
- Consumes less energy than producing new, virgin polymers
- Embeds the right values and behaviour to reduce human impact on the environment
Did you know that?
- 86% of plastic packaging is recovered
- 77% of plastic drinks bottles are recycled
- 50% of plastic packaging is recycled
- 78% of post-consumer plastic is recovered
- 59% of all plastic bottles are collected for recycling*
- * includes all plastic bottles, such as shampoo and bleach bottles, etc.
- 32% of all plastic is recycled
A Responsible Producer
Under the extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, the plastics industry pays money towards our recycling costs via what is known as a Packaging Recovery Note (PRN). Packaging Recovery Notes and Packaging Export Recovery Notes (PERNs) are issued by recyclers and exporters as proof of recycling, which are bought directly from them (or via compliance schemes) by the supply chain.
How is plastic recycled?
Once the plastic is collected and sent to a recycling centre, it is typically separated into different polymer types, which are then separately shredded (and impurities like paper are removed), then melted back into polymer pellets. These pellets are then sold on to be used in new products.
At NCA Ltd we are fully committed to the recycling of plastics used in all of our services where possible. As one of the UK’s leading plastic machining companies, we firmly welcome all forms of recycling to build a greener, more sustainable future for all.
