Accurate waste data is the key to making Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) successful in the UK, says Gaspard Duthilleul, COO, Greyparrot.
The UK’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, which asks businesses to recycle more of the packaging they put on the market, is already impacting packaging producers as its multi-year rollout begins. Although producers will not have to pay any EPR for packaging fees until at least 2025, when policymakers aim for the legislation to come into full force — they must already begin to follow EPR guidance and, more importantly, report packaging data.
While this EPR introduction is new, the UK already has a Shared Producer Responsibility (SPR) scheme in place through the use of the Packaging Recycling Notice (PRN). However, unlike EPR, the PRN scheme was not implemented to assess businesses’ entire collection, sorting, and recycling costs.
Still, it may have played a small part in the UK recycling over 44% of the generated plastic waste in 2021. This puts it well ahead of the United States, which only recycles 5 to 6% of plastic per year and is among the top countries in the world in terms of plastic recycling rates.
However, when you dig deeper, the UK’s rate has been relatively stagnant, which isn’t good news considering its ambitious target to recycle at least 65% of plastic by 2035. Whether or not this is feasible is in question. I believe it is — but not as things stand.
The UK’s [recycling] rate has been relatively stagnant, which isn’t good news considering its ambitious target to recycle at least 65% of plastic by 2035.
Accurate waste data is essential to achieving this goal. That is what’s required in various Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bills, whether you’re looking at the new UK EPR legislation or similar legislation that is now being used in the U.S.
These EPR bills are some of the first waste legislation targeting individual product recyclability, which requires actual identification and counts of individual waste materials within MRFs. However, manual counting won’t work at scale, and without access to accurate waste stream data, materials recovery facilities (MRFs) will be unable to report that packaging optimised for recycling is moving through its facility, identified and accurately sorted.
In addition, fast-moving consumer goods producers won’t receive insights into the real-world recyclability of their packaging. Furthermore, regulators will struggle to enforce penalties against those who don’t meet new guidelines. Addressing all of these challenges is critical for the UK to improve its recycling performance and reduce the colossal amount of solid waste it still sends to landfills every year.
The Waste Industry Has Been Flying Blind
One of the biggest obstacles hindering legacy recycling practices is the lack of granular waste data. Today, only 1% of waste is monitored in most waste facilities, using resource-intensive, manual processes.
Where data does exist, it often provides an incomplete picture. Optical sorters gather useful information, but it’s often limited to detailed parameters like polymer type and doesn’t account for important factors like food-grade status. In addition, most of the data they collect only accounts for the sorting stage of the recovery process, rather than a holistic picture of everything that enters and eventually leaves an MRF.
It’s imperative that we address the data gaps that impede recycling efficiency
In the U.S., for example, this lack of complete data visibility, digitisation, and automation has led to only 5% of the 40 million tons of plastic waste being recycled annually, while 86% made its way to landfills. Not only is that a major environmental problem, with landfilled and incinerated waste increasing carbon emissions, but waste facilities are losing out on £63B-£95B by not recycling this material.
As a result, many may feel disillusioned with recycling, and less motivated to participate in recycling programmes. That only exacerbates the challenges faced by the waste management industry. Today’s inefficiencies also contribute to the idea that recycling is ineffective or even futile.
This skepticism stems from various factors, including reports of recyclable materials ending up in landfills or being shipped overseas for processing, as well as misconceptions about the limitations of recycling technology.
With this in mind, it’s imperative that we address the data gaps that impede recycling efficiency. That way, the UK industry can move closer to achieving its goals of sustainability and circularity in waste management.
Using AI to Harness The Power of Waste Data
While data has been lacking, the UK has been forced to improve its own recycling efficacy with technological advancements in recent years. Fully automated, self-adapting facilities have been built to process skyrocketing waste flows and deliver higher-quality materials for recycled packaging that can boost profits for recycling plants. Veolia, for instance, has noted its automated sorting technology is key in recycling 610,000 metric tons a year of plastic across its processing plants.
Meanwhile, older legacy plants have become more open to being retrofitted with these technologies to catch up with the power and revenue potential of next-generation MRFs. Now, as we transition into a new era of AI-led innovation, artificial intelligence is presenting the potential to transform recycling efficacy further within both current and future plants.
By applying AI to recognise waste materials from real-time images captured from cameras installed in MRFs, we can now identify nearly every municipal waste item that passes through a waste facility.
Skepticism surrounding recycling is often the result of viewing and tackling the waste crisis problem in isolation.
Once captured, that data allows us to analyse waste material by its mass in the overall waste stream, distinguish between polymers, track the material’s financial value, and even project its potential GHG emissions.
As a result, waste managers not only have access to 100% of the waste material data going through their MRFs, but they can also receive actionable insights to refine their operations, streamline recycling efforts, and make the overall process more economically and environmentally viable.
This data-driven recycling approach being fostered by AI is carving out one of the few pathways for recycling success. Without comprehensive and accurate recycling data down to a brand or even stock-keeping unit (SKU) level, packaging producers will struggle to assess the true recyclability of their products. That same data will provide an essential feedback loop as producers go on to design – and redesign – more sustainable packaging to maximise recovery rates.
If anything, we must highlight to packaging producers, MRFs, and regulators that for something to be truly recyclable, it has to be collected, sorted, and sent somewhere to be processed into another product, or, ideally, the same product again. Without the data to track this full post-consumption journey, packaging-led recycling will be as ineffective as the consumer-led recycling that came before it.
Skepticism surrounding recycling is often the result of viewing and tackling the waste crisis problem in isolation. By utilising waste data to align policy, product design, and investment, we can ensure that by the time material arrives at a recovery facility or recycling plant, it’s supposed to be there. This is not only vital for the new EPR legislation to succeed but also a necessity to ensure a more circular economy.
