The Engineer

DEFRA decides against landfill bans on used plastics

News

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has confirmed that it will not be introducing any landfill bans on items such as used plastics – a move welcomed by members of the British Plastics Federation (BPF).

’Although we want to divert used plastics from landfill by 2020, there simply isn’t enough UK recycling and energy-from-waste capacity to take the material from landfill in the short term,’ said Peter Davis, director general of the BPF.

The BPF also took the opportunity to make it clear that with only seven years of landfill capacity left in England and Wales – as warned by the National Audit Office – it is highly unlikely that the UK will achieve its landfill directive target by 2013.

’There’s only seven years’ landfill capacity left in England and Wales,’ said Davis. ’The BPF is not confident that the UK will achieve its next landfill directive target by 2013 due to haphazard local authority collection systems and too little recycling and energy-from-waste facilities.’