Somerset Council and Newcastle City Council are the latest local authorities to join the FPF (flexible plastic fund) FlexCollect flexible plastic collection pilot.
As part of the pilot, over 3,600 homes in Somerset and 5,000 homes in Newcastle will be able to recycle flexible plastics, such as plastic bags, wrappers, packets and films, as part of their normal kerbside recycling collections.
Newcastle and Somerset join South Gloucestershire, Cheltenham and Maldon Councils as local authorities taking part in the pilot. The plan is for the collections to expand to include more residents in both locations over the next two years.
The FPF FlexCollect is a £3m pilot collecting and recycling flexible plastic packaging from households in the UK. The trial aims to provide insights to industry and local authorities ahead of the introduction of compulsory UK-wide kerbside collections in 2027. An additional four local authorities are set to join FPF FlexCollect in 2023.
Newcastle launched on 5 June and provides residents with a fortnightly twin stream collection with glass collected separately. Somerset, which launched on 22 May, offers a weekly source-segregated collection. Residents in both locations will be provided with a new blue collection bag to collect their flexible plastics, which they can place in their existing recycling containers.
We are looking forward to share openly our initial learnings at the end of this year.
Gareth Morton, spokesperson for FPF FlexCollect and Discovery Manager at Ecosurety, said: “We are pleased to see the FPF FlexCollect project building steadily, with now five local authorities on board to help us gain valuable insights into how to successfully collect and recycle post-consumer flexible plastics from households.
“We are looking forward to share openly our initial learnings at the end of this year so the UK can prepare for widespread collections by 2027.”
The Fund was launched in 2021 and is collaboratively funded and supported by Abel & Cole, Ella’s Kitchen, Kiddylicious, Koninklijke Douwe Egberts, KP Snacks, Lotus Bakeries, Mars UK, McCain Foods, Mondelēz International, Natural Balance Foods, Nestlé, Ocado Retail, PepsiCo, The Collective, Unilever, United Biscuits and Vitaflo.
The £3m FPF FlexCollect project was launched in May 2022 and is co-managed by a consortium comprising the project co-funders Ecosurety, RECOUP, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK and WRAP. FPF is the majority funder of the project with the remaining funding coming from Defra, UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge and Zero Waste Scotland.
I’m delighted to see local authorities from almost the furthest corners of England taking part in this exciting scheme.
Resources and Waste Minister Rebecca Pow, commented: “We all need to do our bit to reduce waste, and I’m delighted to see local authorities from almost the furthest corners of England taking part in this exciting scheme.
“These pilots and the work of Somerset and Newcastle councils will improve our understanding of how to drive up recycling rates for some of the most difficult plastics, potentially helping all of us recycle more.”