Incineration burning issue for plastics

THE plastics industry has called on the Government to support incineration to deal with plastic waste not suitable for recycling.

The Phlastics Industries Association (PIA) says incineration is an "efficient mechanism" for desposing of what is a "significant" amount of plastic.

The PIA also wants the Government to fund research to develop new plastic products based on recycled materials. It says there has been too much emphasis on achieving quotas with no reference to market demand.

Ireland recycles less than 1.4 per cent of its estimated 108,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste every year the rest is dumped in landfill sites. However, under an EU directive, the annual quantity recycled must increase more than 10 fold to 15,000 tonnes.

The PIA surveyed companies involved in plastics to establish whether they were "positioned to exploit this new raw material source". It found that only a small minority processed reclaimed material sourced on the open market, and this accounted for 13 per cent of the overall volume recycled.

The survey found that the use of reclaimed material had resulted in cost savings for the majority of companies questioned and the report recommended that recycling as a means of reducing industry costs should be promoted more actively.

Development of recycling on a sustainable basis requires that an active and competitive market is available for reclaimed material," said the PIA, which is a division of IBEC. And it wants An Bord Trachtala to examine market related factors which are inhibiting more plastic recycling.

Mr Reg McCabe, the PIA's director, said one of the main inhibiting factors was the absence in Ireland or in Britain of a washing and granulating plant to process plastic packaging, such as PET (polyethylene) soft drink bottles. The nearest such plant is in the Netherlands, he said.

Wellman International, in Co Cavan, manufactures a polyester fibre from recycled plastics. But it must import all of its material from its Dutch parent company - including PET exported to the Netherlands, which is washed and granulated and then exported back to Ireland.

Asked whether the PIA or any of its member companies would be interested in building a washing and granulating plant in the Republic, Mr McCabe said the market was probably so small that it would make more sense to build one in Britain. It could not be done without Government aid.

It is understood that CVP, a subsidiary of British Polythene Industries, is currently negotiating with the Government for funding to build a plant which would reprocess some of the estimated 12,000 tonnes of agricultural plastic wastes mainly fertiliser bags and silage wraps.