UK faces recycling problems as China turns away shipments
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - 12:22:06
About 70 per cent of the plastics which can be recycled are being shipped overseas for processing by UK authorities, mostly to countries in Asia.
This has been a solution that suited Britain, at least up until now, because China and other nations in the east have begun clamping down on imported plastics for recycling, which do not meet the requirements of strict new regulations.
The Daily Mail reports that China has sent back several containers filled with plastics that it does not feel able to handle, because of their poor quality.
This basically boils down to the fact that the plastics are contaminated, i.e. unwashed, when they arrive and overseas recycling centres are no longer obliged to deal with this issue.
This could mean that the UK faces major problems, since we lack the facilities to deal with all of the recyclable materials that are produced and, as such, we may have to send large amounts of the waste to landfills.
Environment secretary, Owen Paterson, has said that he hoped to make changes that would allow the UK to take advantage of a more comprehensive and capable recycling infrastructure.
He also pointed out that the global market for recycling was becoming larger and more lucrative, which means that we could actually make money out of it, if we are able to properly harness the tools that are available.
It seems that some councils are turning to incinerators to dispose of recycling, rather than handling it as most residents would expect, since usage of this burning process increased by close to 25 per cent in the past 12 months.
A lot of work needs to be done to make sure that the UK can deal with its own recycling needs, because foreign processing is a diminishing option.
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