Survey shows a doubling in the amount of plastic bottles collected for recycling << Back to Main News Page Added: Thursday, 2 June 2005 The quantity of plastic bottles collected for recycling in the UK has doubled over the past two years according to research carried out by Recoup and funded by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme). The report reveals that collections are now performing at an annualised rate of 48,397 tonnes, which equates to 10.5% of bottles in the household waste stream. This is double the quantity collected in 2003, with approximately 68% of the bottles recovered through kerbside collections and 32% through bring schemes. Key findings of the research include: 73% of all UK local authorities now offer collection facilities for plastic bottles; 348 local authority recycling managers confirmed plastic bottle collection facilities within their council area; The number of plastic bottle collection schemes has increased by 18%; 53 of the local authorities that responded to the survey indicated that it costs them little or no extra to collect their plastic bottles for recycling compared to collecting them for landfill/other disposal route, demonstrating that plastic bottle recycling can be achieved cost effectively in well designed schemes. As well as reporting on the overall rise in collection, the survey includes performance and costs analysis of the different collection approaches adopted by councils throughout the UK, together with predictions about future trends. Based on current local authority declarations, it is forecast that almost 65,703 tonnes per annum of plastic bottles will be collected by 2007. The full survey is available from both WRAP and Recoup’s websites. http://www.recoup.org/shop/product_documents/153.pdf