What's your plastic solution?

Plastic waste that is not disposed of properly can end up in our seas and rivers, harming wildlife. It can take hundreds – even thousands – of years to degrade and as it does so tiny pieces (called ‘microplastics’) break away, polluting ecosystems and entering the food chain.

Plastic is made from oil; a fossil fuel that contains carbon stored from plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

This ‘fossil carbon’ (sometimes called ‘anthropogenic carbon’) is meant to be released back into the atmosphere slowly, through natural processes like erosion and the occasional volcanic eruption. But when we burn fossil fuels to run our cars and operate our power plants, this fossil carbon is released far too quickly.

It is this accelerated release of fossil carbon that is warming our planet and driving climate change.

All the stuff you put in your rubbish bin is taken to a state-of-the-art energy from waste (EfW) facility, where it is burnt (under strictly controlled conditions) to generate electricity.

This is a much better way of dealing with rubbish than the old method of burying it in the ground (‘landfill’), but even so, when your rubbish is treated at the EfW facility some carbon emissions are released into the atmosphere.

The fossil carbon emissions that are released from your plastic waste have a much bigger impact on climate change than the ‘biogenic carbon’ that is released from plant-based materials like food, paper and card.

Plastic waste probably only makes up around 16% of the weight of your rubbish bin – but accounts for 70% of your bin’s carbon footprint. That’s why it’s particularly important to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic whenever possible.

It’s important that you try to reduce all types of waste because the carbon that is released when rubbish is treated is only part of the story. You also need to think about the carbon that was emitted in growing, manufacturing, packing, transporting and selling the item.

So whilst it’s true that the biogenic carbon that is released from plant-based materials like food, paper and card when it is treated at the energy from waste facility has a relatively low environmental impact, it’s still really important to waste less and recycle more.

Since 2019, non-recyclable rubbish from households in Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton has been sent to an energy from waste facility (the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility) in Beddington, Sutton, for treatment. Previously this rubbish had been sent to landfill.

This marked a significant step forward as the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility offers an alternative to landfill which is safe, cost-effective and cuts emissions of greenhouse gases. The facility also feeds enough electricity into the National Grid to power around 60,000 homes.

Because as biodegradable waste (like food and paper) rots in landfill, it lets off methane – a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

The waste management sector has worked hard to reduce methane emissions and has delivered a 75% reduction between 1990 and 2020. This has been achieved in a number of ways: households and businesses producing less waste; replacing landfill sites with energy from waste facilities; and improving methane gas capture at landfill sites still in use.

Recycling reduces the need for new plastic made from raw materials, saving energy and carbon in the process. It takes 75% less energy to make a plastic bottle using recycled plastic compared to newly made plastic.

The UK’s network of plastic recycling facilities is getting better all the time and these improvements are likely to accelerate in the coming years, driven by new legislation like the Plastics Tax, Deposit Return Scheme, Emissions Trading Scheme and Extended Producer Responsibility programme.

These legislative changes are all aimed at incentivising and encouraging manufacturers, retailers, consumers, local councils and waste treatment companies to maximise plastic recycling and minimise plastic waste.

Only items that you cannot easily recycle should go in your rubbish bin. This includes: period products, nappies and incontinence pads; wet wipes and baby wipes; tissues and paper towels; pet bedding, litter and waste; polystyrene; paper and card that is dirty, has lots of food on it or is wet (e.g. food-stained pizza boxes).

The Beddington Energy Recovery Facility is designed to safely treat these items. Remember – NEVER put electrical items, batteries or gas canisters in your rubbish bin; they can cause fires. Check our BinSmart directory to find out how to safely recycle and dispose of electrical items