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Two leading local authority waste and environment bodies are pleased that government have listened to the call for a delay to the date for mandatory flexible plastics collection, as part of the roll out of Simpler Recycling.

The National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO) and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) had expressed concern that local authorities urgently needed clarity from government on how flexible plastics would be reprocessed and the availability of end markets.

Whilst the two bodies welcome this delay, some authorities have already put plans in place to collect this material including adaptations to MRFS, on the understanding that their costs would be met under the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme for Packaging. This will still need to be the case. Others will need to re-evaluate their proposals to comply with the requirements of Simpler Recycling and in particular the revised timescale for flexibles. However the delay does give more time for UK infrastructure development and stable markets to be established.

NAWDO and ADEPT welcome the work that has been undertaken through the FlexCollect project to test different approaches to incorporating flexible plastics into existing recycling collection services. The networks are now calling on the government to engage in extensive work across the whole value chain, including local authorities, waste companies and packaging producers, to explore alternatives to flexible plastics and seek to reduce the range and complexity of the polymers used to reduce barriers to recycling. They also want to see market development that encourages more investment in UK-based sorting and reprocessing infrastructure to support future collections under Simpler Recycling.

NAWDO and ADEPT are committed to support and engage in this work, to help the government deliver on its aims to decarbonise residual waste and support higher levels of recycling.