Web-Resol Tudo sobre Limpeza Urbana e Resíduos Sólidos!
Recycling plastic bottles, when carried out using efficient technology results in direct and indirect economic benefits. Plastic bottle recycling can create economic development, generating new employment in more efficient, sustainable industries. Development of an effective, efficient plastics recycling industry within the UK will help to create a sustainable society and support the economy on a long-term basis.
Recycling can provide an efficient alternative to traditional disposal of materials to landfill. Collection and disposal of plastic bottles currently costs UK local councils £45 million every year. This cost will rise with the planned landfill tax price increase. The plastic bottles being landfilled are a valuable resource – if sold they would generate over £27 million in revenue. Landfill is the inefficient option – there is market capacity and demand for collected and sorted plastic bottles, together with proven collection and handling technology.
Collecting plastic bottles for recycling also increases overall material yields, satisfies public demand for comprehensive service provision and has the potential to maximise landfill diversion across UK local authorities.
By changing their approach to waste management, councils and businesses alike have the opportunity to maximise material recovery and reduce waste management costs.
There will be employment creation for the increased services for both collection and sorting facilities. It is estimated that there will be a net increase of some 11 new full time equivalent jobs for every 1000 additional tonnes of plastic bottles recycled as a result of growth in the sorting, reprocessing and manufacturing sectors. With over a 330kt of plastic bottles in the domestic wast stream, plastic bottle recycling can offer real economic benefits.
To stimulate an increase in recycling, Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced new public sector funding of over £100m per year for recycling-related programmes will be introduced, combined with an accelerated increase of landfill tax. This will signal a significant rise in public sector funding available for waste-related projects. It is expected that the new finance – £100m a year in 2003/4, £110m in 2004/5 and 2005/6 – will be delivered through a combination of funds for local government and specialist agencies, such as WRAP.
The proposed increase in landfill tax – of £3/tonne/year from 2005/6 – is part of a long-term aim of moving landfill tax to £35/tonne. The move, combined with new funds to develop recycling schemes, mean that integrated kerbside collections that include plastic bottles can be economically justified for many more councils
Artigos Relacionados
Check Also
Waste management poses challenges, but could unlock major environmental and economic gains
Every day, the city of Rio de Janeiro, one of the largest metropolises in the Southern Hemisphere, generates 17,000 tonnes of waste, ranging from large industrial debris to candy wrappers bought innocently at newspaper stands. While this waste presents a serious and urgent environmental challenge, it also fuels an increasingly significant portion of the economy, with benefits extending beyond financial gains. - When we look at developed European countries, many are already recycling between 40% and 50%, with some reaching 60%. From an economic standpoint, both recyclable materials and organic waste hold tremendous value - stated Adalberto Maluf, National Secretary for Environment and Environmental Quality at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), during the Methane Forum: Climate Emergency Brake, at the Rio Nature and Climate Week. Citing a 2025 report, Maluf mentioned that Brazil literally throws away R$27 billion annually, while municipalities spend significantly more - R$45 billion - managing all this waste, often overlooking the environmental impact or economic potential buried in landfills and dumps. - We spend R$45 billion to collect and dispose of waste in landfills, yet we manage to recycle less than a third of the potential. I believe it will be necessary to review contracts, create performance-based remuneration mechanisms, and pay for both effectively sorted materials and those diverted from landfills - he added. According to the IBGE, 60.5% of Brazilian municipalities adopt some form of selective waste collection, and several initiatives serve as examples of how to manage city waste. In his panel presentation, Bernardo Ornelas, Project Coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), highlighted Ecoparque do Caju, a national benchmark in waste management and recycling. There, received materials are sorted and can be used for biogas production, organic compounds for urban gardens, or human consumption, in the case of still...