Britain has ‘no idea’ how to cope with China’s plastics ban

UK faces burning up to half a billion tons of toxic waste in recycling crisis

CHINA’S decision to stop taking the world’s plastic waste means that half a billion tons of the toxic substance could be burned in Britain rather than exported.

The leaders of the UK’S recycling industry admitted yesterday they had “no idea” how to cope as China’s policy came into force.

Britain ships around two thirds of its used plastics there for recycling – about 500,000 tons – each year.

The ban, imposed as part of a drive towards selfsufficiency and in order to prevent environmental contamination, means councils will have to send much of its waste for incineration or landfill unless an alternative market is found.

The move was described as a “huge blow” at a time when public willingness to recycle is high, thanks in part to Sir David Attenborough and his Blue Planet II series on BBC television. But the Government has come under fire for failing to respond quickly enough to the restriction, which was first announced last summer.

Incinerating plastic risks releasing pollutants such as hydrogen chloride, dioxins and fine particulate matter.

Scientists warn that even when the chemicals are captured in industrial incinerators, there remains a risk to the environment and potentially to human health.

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s a huge blow for us, it’s a gamechanger for our industry. We’ve relied on China so long for our waste. We simply don’t have the markets in the UK so we do rely on the export markets.”

In 2016 China processed 7.3 million tons of plastic waste – half the world’s recycled plastics. UK recycling firms are now having to look to Malaysia and Vietnam for their exports. However, these are unlikely to have the capacity to make up for the lost Chinese market. Recoup, an organisation which recycles plastics, said the ban could lead to the stockpiling of plastic waste and a move towards incineration and landfill.

Landfill has traditionally been thought to be environmentally benign because plastics are chemically inert, but more recently analysis has shown some additives can find their way into water. Plastics also consume a disproportionate amount of landfill space because they do not degrade and shrink.

Peter Fleming, from the Local Government Association, said: “In the short term we will cope. In the longer term we need a much more intelligent waste strategy.”

Greenpeace said incinerating plastic was “the wrong answer”. A spokesman told the BBC: “It’s a high-carbon non-renewable form of generating electricity. It is also one that creates toxic chemicals and heavy metals.”

A spokesman for DEFRA said: “We are taking significant steps to tackle plastic waste. We are introducing a ban on microbeads and we have taken nine billion plastic bags out of circulation.”