Axion Warns Recycling Targets Need More Investment

Recycling targets cannot be met unless there is a “radical change” to the UK’s infrastructure, economy specialist Axion has warned.

Responding to the Government’s consultation on consistency in household and business recycling collections in England, Axion cautioned that the UK’s infrastructure cannot currently handle all types of packaging waste.

WRAP’s Plastics Pact has set targets for 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled or composted by 2025, with 30% of packaging using recycled content.

Axion head of circular economy Richard McKinlay commented, “While it is good to have ambitious targets, without a shift in focus and investment in infrastructure, these targets won’t be reached.”

Axion’s comments are echoed by a recent YouGov poll, which found that 37% of UK adults said they feared that materials they recycled would end up in a landfill.

“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,” concluded McKinlay.