UK government milks recycling targets

The UK government has outlined plans to see half of all milk packaging to be produced from recycled materials by 2020.

The target is part of an initiative launched by UK government department Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) under the name the “Milk Roadmap”. It also sets targets for reductions of up to 30% in CO2, methane and nitrous oxide emissions against 1990 levels.

Meat and milk production are estimated to account for around 7% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The UK dairy industry produced 13.6bn litres of milk last year, around 6.5bn of which went into the liquid milk market.

The initiative has been welcomed by Nampak in the UK, which introduced its first HDPE milk bottle with recycled content into the market on a pilot scale last year.

“About 80% of milk sold by [UK] retailers is in plastic containers. HDPE handled plastic bottles are 100% recyclable and closed loop recycling of HDPE milk bottles back into HDPE milk bottles presents the most sustainable and efficient means of recycling,” said Nampak Plastics Europe business development director James Crick.

He said the company has already committed to using up to 10% recycled content in its UK-manufactured milk bottles next year.

Nampak is in the process of setting up a 13,000tpa closed loop HDPE milk bottle recycling unit in the North East of England. This is set to come on stream around the end of the year and uses a process developed together with UK government funded group Wrap, milk supplier DairyCrest, retailer M&S and recycling technology company Nextek.

UK food contact regulations allow post consumer resin to be used in food contact applications. Many other countries, including Germany and Italy, do not. The European Commission is currently working towards a common position on the use of recycled plastics in food contact packaging and published regulation (EC) No 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods on 27 March this year.

This, and the necessary approval structures, will be one of the topics discussed at EPN’s Food Contact Plastics conference in Brussels next month. For more details visit http://www.foodcontactplastics.com/