government\u2019s waste strategy<\/a> is to help England move towards a circular economy. The document also analyses the issues surrounding biodegradable plastics, oxo-degradable plastics, and bio-based plastics.<\/p>\nIn the strategy, the government stated that it was concerned that the biodegradability of plastic-based products could not be verified \u201cin the absence of standards\u201d. Therefore, \u201cour call for evidence will explore how this can be rectified, and we are providing support for research and development of biodegradable plastics through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund\u201d. The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund aims to bring together the UK\u2019s world-leading research with business to tackle major industrial and societal challenges.<\/p>\n
The government also expresses concern over the use of oxo-degradable plastics, stating that international studies have \u201cconcluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to support claims that oxo-degradable plastics will fully biodegrade, or do so within a reasonable timeframe if they are littered, if they are disposed of in landfill, or if they end up in the marine environment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Emerging market<\/p>\n
According to the strategy, in theory, almost all materials ultimately may biodegrade, even in the open environment, though only after hundreds of years or more. There is currently no consensus as to how quickly a plastic should biodegrade to be considered biodegradable, the document highlighted.<\/p>\n
In relation to bio-based plastics, the government said the material has the potential to provide a more sustainable alternative to conventional plastics. Yet, it acknowledged that it was an emerging market and that the material was \u201cgenerally more expensive than conventional plastics\u201d<\/p>\n
The government expressed the need for further research to \u201cevaluate their overall sustainability \u2013 for example, whether they will be more sustainable if manufactured from plant waste rather than from plants that would otherwise have been used for food production\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dr Sarah Hickingbottom, CEO of bio-economy specialist BioVale (@BioVale_Cluster), welcomed the government\u2019s waste strategy. Speaking to Bio-Based World News, she said: \u201cWe think that it\u2019s great that the UK government is doing this. It is great that they are linking this to the bio-economy strategy and the industrial strategy to help the transition to the circular economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great that this strategy has some teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about the issue of biodegradability, she said: \u201cLike a lot of things in life, nothing is ever simple. Degradability is like lifecycle analysis, it is complicated. It depends on many things like temperature, sunlight, pressure, and even the bacteria that are around at the time. These issues all affect degradability. It\u2019s good that the government are calling for evidence on this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recyclable packaging<\/p>\n
Separately, retailers and producers of packaging will be forced to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling it under the government\u2019s new waste strategy.<\/p>\n
Supermarkets and other retailers could be charged penalties for putting difficult to recycle packaging \u2013 such as black plastic trays \u2013 on the market as part of the strategy, which aims to make the \u201cpolluter pay\u201d. They would be charged lower fees for packaging that was easy to reuse or recycle.<\/p>\n
The government also reiterated its plans to stimulate demand for recycled plastic by introducing a tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic content. It aims to unveil this tax in April 2022.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the strategy, Environment Secretary Michael Gove (@michaelgove) said: \u201cOur strategy sets out how we will go further and faster, to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Together we can move away from being a \u2018throw-away\u2019 society, to one that looks at waste as a valuable resource.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will cut our reliance on single-use plastics, end confusion over household recycling, tackle the problem of packaging by making polluters pay, and end the economic, environmental and moral scandal that is food waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this plan we will cement our place as a world leader in resource efficiency, leaving our environment in a better state than we inherited it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s great that this strategy has some teeth. It is great that they are linking this to the bio-economy strategy and the industrial strategy to help the transition to the circular economy.\u201d The UK government has acknowledged that the bio-based industry is a growing sector and that innovative new packaging types could help reduce the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[11270,5847,7105,11966],"supplier":[11160,3334],"class_list":["post-59339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioplastics","tag-packaging","tag-plastics","supplier-biovale","supplier-uk-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59339"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=59339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}