It’s almost impossible to imagine the modern economy without
plastic. So essential a material it has become, with a wide variety of uses,
that any efforts to move towards a more sustainable world will require a
consideration of how to include plastics therein. The bioeconomy offers several
ways to make plastics more sustainable: biobased plastics offer a renewable
solution for producing plastics, whilst also acting carbon sinks by “locking
in” carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by the plants whose biomass
they are made from, while compostable plastics can be disposed of alongside
organic waste, reducing end-of-life pollution caused by plastics when they are
disposed of, and reducing the level of plastic contamination in compost – an important
factor to consider when utilising compost, as plastic contamination can drastically
reduce soil quality.
As with any aspect of sustainability, policy support is
usually required for any meaningful change in habits to occur. To this end, the
UK government published a consultation in early 2019, seeking stakeholder views
on a number of issues relating to waste collection in the UK. The primary focus
of the consultation was on harmonising the materials that are collected for
recycling in the UK, ensuring the same materials are collected everywhere. This
“core set” of materials is not necessarily relevant to the bioeconomy, but food
waste definitely is: development of regulation surrounding food waste
collection is critical to allow compostable plastics to shine. Thusly, one
outcome of the consultation that could have been of interest to the bioeconomy
would have been legislation surrounding compostable plastics being included in
food waste. Such a policy is already in place in the Greater Manchester area,
wherein compostable liners are filled with food waste and collected. This has demonstrated
how compostable plastics increase the amount of food waste collected, and also
critically reduce the amount of plastic contamination in food waste and the
resulting compost. Unfortunately, Defra’s response makes no mention of
compostable plastics, but also doesn’t offer any concrete proposals with regard
to food waste collection aside from stating local authorities should have
separate food waste collections. Defra’s response offers plenty of scope for
“further consideration”, which means the issue is not off the table yet.
Also of interest to the biobased products sector was another
consultation run alongside the above: a consultation on the introduction of a
“plastics tax” in the UK. Under this proposal, additional charges would be
levied on any plastic, manufactured or imported, that does not contain at least
30% recycled content. The biobased products sector has a keen interest in this
proposal, as the government has not yet confirmed its definition of “plastic”
in this regard. The consultation document notes that incorporating recycled
plastic is more expensive for manufacturers, but the same also applies to
biobased plastics while biomass feedstocks remain more expensive than
petroleum-based feedstocks. There is an argument to be made that since biobased
and compostable plastics offer environmental benefits of their own, they should
be considered as equivalent to recycled plastic in the terms of such a tax.
The government does not appear to agree, however. Noting the
additional administrative burden brought about by differentiating biobased
plastics, the government have, at this stage, elected to include biobased and
compostable plastics under the umbrella of non-recyclable plastic with regard
to the tax. The government does, however, note that further evidence may change
this stance, and so biobased and compostable plastics’ inclusion remains “under
review”. The tax itself will come into force in 2022, and so the biobased
products sector will be seeking clarity on this issue before then.
Overall, then, the government’s responses to these
consultations has been somewhat a damp squib, with nothing having changed in
particular in the aftermath.
However, particularly in the latter case, a newly published
consultation may offer some of the “further consideration” the government so
seeks to undergo. In the wake of increasing demand for biobased products,
particularly plastics, the government is looking to better understand the place
these plastics have in a circular economy in the future – something that industrial
standards can play a big part in, by defining that place. The Government is
looking to introduce new suitable standards for biobased, biodegradable, and
compostable plastics, while questioning the suitability of existing ones.
The Government’s Call for Evidence seeks scientific evidence
regarding the relative sustainability of biobased and biodegradable plastics,
specifically their contribution to (and how they can mitigate) avoidable
plastic waste – which Defra seeks to eliminate – and in the case of biobased
plastics, their relationship with carbon emissions. Of primary concern in the
former case is timeframe: all plastics will eventually biodegrade, but Defra is
concerned with how long this takes in various environmental conditions, which
is obviously critical when assessing the pollution impact that biodegradable
plastics can still have. In this regard, Defra is also interested in whether it
would be worthwhile to establish industry standards in order to minimise any
such pollution impacts from biodegradable plastics utilised in the UK.
No proposals are outlined in the consultation, but the
responses will be used by Defra to inform future policy decisions with regard
to biobased and biodegradable plastics. Responses must be submitted by the 14th of October, after which Defra will official respond in due course, hopefully
clearing up the uncertainty.