First good quality plastic is a high value material - in fact it is being traded at up to £200/ tonne plus if the plastic is of a single type. But the price can fall to less than £50 per tonne if it is mixed. The limitation of plastic collection to certain types helps ensure a good price is obtained for our recycling.  But before you start thinking whats happening to all the money remember that plastic is a very light material so in truth the total value will not be that great.

Second plastic travels  to China to be made into all the lovely plastic based products we buy from China - so in effect a closed recycling loop just on a global scale!  So what about the environmental impact of all those miles? Well the plastic travels back in ships delivering all the goods we import which would otherwise go back empty - or even take on ballast  - so loading up with our waste plastic makes a lot of sense. 

Here is an extract of very recent report produced on the issue for the UK recycling organisation WRAP

• China is the ultimate destination of most of the waste plastics exported from the European Union and North America.
• Total imports of waste plastics to China were ‘only’ 12.5% of production - C. 40,000ktpa of plastics are used in manufacturing in China .
• The UK waste plastics sales to China represent less than 1% of total plastics demand and only 5% of waste plastics imports.
• The waste plastics are used in a wide variety of applications, from textiles to toys to kitchen utensils.
• The end-user manufacturers are seeking to reduce production costs by finding cheaper sources of plastic inputs, as virgin prices are historically high.
• The combination of low cost labour, relatively low entry costs to establish recycling plants, more limited regulatory controls and low freight costs makes China highly competitive when compared to European and North American plastics recyclers.

If you want to learn more facts on this issue go to http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/about_wrap/international.html