The UK recycling industry's near-term growth prospects depend on consolidation of its current capabilities as much as innovative new technologies
Innovation is important for the UK recycling industry, but focusing on supporting current recycling capacity and scaling up existing technologies is critical in the near term, UK firm Biffa Polymers managing director James McLeary told the Recoup UK recycling conference in Peterborough on 25 September.
There is no doubt that the UK recycling industry is in deep trouble, McLeary said. He pointed to recent losses of mechanical recycling capacity, including Biffa's own washing and grinding plant in Washington, County Durham, which was mothballed in June 2024 and permanently closed in early 2025 for profitability reasons. Other recent closures in the UK include Viridor Polymers' Avonmouth recycling facility and Rochester plastic recovery facility (PRF), and film recycling plants operated by Duclo, YS Reclamation and Berry (now Amcor).
Others struck a more optimistic note, reminding delegates that the UK's packaging EPR (pEPR) scheme and tax on virgin plastic in packaging put it ahead of most other regions of the world in terms of legislative framework to support the recycling industry. But, prior to their comments, a brief survey of the room had also revealed that delegates' confidence that progress would be made in the 12 months following the conference was lower than it had been the previous year, reflecting the general malaise in the sector.
Work with what you have
McLeary did not suggest that he is against innovation, saying that new technologies will come. But his message was to focus on the here-and-now on building the business case to roll out existing technologies to tackle plastic waste in the UK.
New mechanical recycling plants only take 18-24 months to build, McLeary said, and the UK needs to put them on the ground more quickly to be able to recycle waste that is currently exported. This more pragmatic view may mean that some products are not able to be fully "circular" — such as packaging being recycled back into packaging products — and some may inevitably be downcycled into lower-value applications, he said. But rather than "sitting and waiting" for new recycling technologies to reach commercial scale, more should be done to get material that can go into mechanical recycling plants out into the market quickly, he added.
Innovation still important
This is not to say that discussion about innovation was absent from the conference. Other participants discussed the benefits provided by new technologies in processing difficult-to-recycle waste streams, particularly household flexible packaging waste, which is currently collected and recycled at lower rates in the UK than in much of Europe.
Chemical producer Dow's global director of green and circular feedstocks, Mary-Jane Hogg, and food company Nestle's head of packaging, Alison Bramfitt, both mentioned the role that pyrolysis — and by association clear rules around mass balance attribution of recycled content — can play in the sector. And Carlos Ludlow-Palafox from pyrolysis company Greenback Recycling Technologies gave details of the firm's newly established modular pyrolysis line at Amcor's flexible PE recycling plant in Heanor, Derbyshire. The companies announced the start of a six-month trial in mid-September, with a view to scaling up the ability of the technology to process household flexible packaging waste.
PRN prices dominate sideline discussions
Highlighting one of the challenges facing UK recyclers, discussions on the sidelines of the conference were dominated by the volatility of the UK's Packaging Recovery Notice (PRN) market, and its impact on feedstock price negotiations.
UK PRN prices jumped sharply in the week leading up to the conference, peaking at £400 the day after, before falling back to £250 on 3 October. This threw UK bale prices into disarray, and — for many recyclers — demonstrates the inefficiency of the PRN system.
PRNs are intended to provide financial support to the UK recycling industry, but recyclers complain that if they are forced to pay more for their feedstocks — or PRF operators have to pay more for mixed plastic waste — when prices rise, the benefits are confined upstream in the waste management sector. And, since exporters can claim a Packaging Export Recovery Notice (PERN), which has an equivalent value, for every tonne of UK packaging waste they export to an accredited recycler, UK recyclers feel that higher PRN/PERN prices improve export economics and increase competition for waste more than supporting the domestic industry. Concern about fraudulent PRN/PERN generation has also been expressed, with risks thought to increase as prices rise.
For some at the conference, the volatility highlights how the PRN/PERN system creates as many challenges as it does opportunities for UK recyclers. Extending the recently implemented pEPR scheme to provide financing for recyclers as well as local authorities is seen by some as a more predictable way of supporting the industry.
