Consternation mounting in wake of British PM’s recycling comments

A special press conference organised on Monday by Downing Street took an unexpected turn when British PM Boris Johnson told an audience of eight to 12-year-olds that instead of relying on recycling, people should reduce their consumption of plastic products. At the event, the Prime Minister was answering questions from children ahead of the COP26 climate change summit, when he said that reusing plastics ‘doesn’t begin to address the problem’ and that recycling doesn’t work as a means to ease the climate crisis.

“You can only recycle plastic a couple of times, really. What you’ve got to do is stop the production of plastic,” he said. “The recycling thing is a red herring.”

Tanya Steele, the UK’s chief executive of the WWF UK office who was also at the event, interjected, saying that ‘We have to reduce, we have to reuse - I do think we need to do a little bit of recycling, PM, and have some system to do so.’ But Johnson said it was a ‘mistake’ to think society can recycle its way out of the problem, adding: "It doesn't work.”

The plastics industry and recycling organisations were quick to respond. In a statement from the British Plastics Federation, director general Philip Law, pointed out that improving recycling within the UK is part of the government’s strategy for dealing with plastic waste and recycling plastic reduces carbon emissions and keeps valuable material in functional use. “We were pleased that the BPF’s Recycling Roadmap was endorsed by a government minister earlier this year,” he said, adding that the BPF would like the government to invest in future-proofing the UK’s recycling infrastructure so more plastic can be recycled within the UK by 2030.

“This will create jobs, reduce the use of fossil fuels, make the circular economy a reality and enable the government to meet its own aim of eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042,” he said. “The plastics industry employs 180,000 people, including recyclers, who should be proud of the vital role they play in delivering an innovative, low carbon, modern economy.”

Recycling charity Recoup pointed to the discrepancy between the PM’s remarks and the policy measures being implemented by the government, noting that ‘when the government itself is introducing a tax on packaging that doesn’t contain 30% recycled content, which is heavily reliant on the citizen doing the right thing and recycling, this comment by the PM will result in an even bigger challenge to collect sufficient plastics from households to recycle to fulfill demand’.

Recoup collaborates with their members from across the plastics recycling value chain to drive forward plastics recycling in the UK and, said Recoup CEO Stuart Foster, ‘much has already been achieved to improve recycling capture in the UK and the industry continues to invest in infrastructure and recycling capabilities in the UK’.

“We are keen to work with government, and other organisations to find the right solutions.   Recycling, is and will continue to be, a part of the jigsaw as we seek to optimise resources and reduce carbon emissions to tackle climate change.”

By contrast, the response from the PCEP Polyolefin Circular Economy Platform was far less circumspect.

“It was very disappointing to hear UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments to young children who genuinely want to play their part in saving the planet for their future, particularly as much of what he was saying is simply not true,” the organisation stated bluntly. In addition, stopping the production of plastic , as the PM suggested, is ‘no solution at all’ as polyolefins are ‘essential and valuable materials’ used in a wide variety of industries and applications.

“Polyolefins protect your food; they bring water into your home safely; they keep the electrical power cables inside your walls safe; they are your kitchen implements and they even clothe you. They enable farmers to grow crops to feed you; they are also the reusable crates that bring products to the shops; they equip scientific laboratories that produce medicines to keep you well and form the protective clothing to protect you against disease; they make the toys that entertain and teach your young children and the school equipment that will then turn them into the inspiring adults of the future,” the organisation emphasised.

PCEP continued,  explaining that the challenge is not about recycling plastic, but rather the national infrastructure to do this effectively.

“The recycling technologies already exist. The problem in the UK is that the government has not invested in the infrastructure to enable plastics to be collected, recycled and reused at sufficient scale,” it pointed out.

The prime minister’s suggestion that plastic should be made from non-fossil resources such as ‘seaweed, banana leaves, or coconuts’  is all well and good, said the organisation, but ‘this is not the solution to the problem of plastic waste’. The solution is for governments to ensure there are simple and effective collection systems so that the industry can sort, recycle and reuse all these valuable materials, the organisation concluded before firing off its parting shot:

“It is also fundamentally important for politicians to encourage and enable consumers to play their part in these collection systems – not to discourage people from recycling at the very start of their lives by throwing around red herrings about producing no plastic at all.”