Environmental Free Packaging Material: <center>Packaging Material</center>

The most common types of material used for PACKAGING are paper, board, plastic, glass, steel and aluminum.

Source: INCPEN, towards greener households, June 2001

Paper and board are the most widely used packaging materials in terms of weight. Paper and board account for 43% by weight of all packaging and are used to pack 25% of all goods. Paper and board packaging make up 6.4% of the overall content of the typical household dustbin.

Plastic packaging accounts for 20% of the weight of all packaging and 53% of all goods are packaged in plastics. Because of its low weight and relative strength, plastic is one of the most energy efficient, robust and economic delivery methods available. Even though plastics can be recycled, there are fewer recycling collection facilities than for other types of packaging waste and only 23% of plastics packaging waste was recycled in the UK in 2001. This is partially because plastic has a high volume to weight ratio, which can make recycling collections of plastic packing waste less efficient than the collection of other recyclables which weigh more. Plastic also has a high calorific content, which allows energy recovery methods to be utilized efficiently if recycling is not possible.

The lack of end-markets for mixed and single stream plastics also forms a barrier to increased plastics recycling. Recycled plastics can be used for a variety of products, such as garden furniture, flower pots and containers, fibers and new packaging materials.

Glass accounts for 20% of the weight of all packaging and 10% of all goods are packaged in glass. Glass can be recycled easily, and well established collection and recycling systems exist in the UK. The first bottle banks appeared in 1977, and there are now roughly 50,000 on some 20000 sites around the country, usually located at civic amenity sites and supermarkets. Seven billion glass containers were produced in the UK in 2003 and the recycling rate has remained relatively constant at approximately 33% since 2000. This contrasts with much higher recycling rates of 80-90% achieved by other European countries. The reason these countries recover more glass for recycling is that they have a much more developed collection infrastructure.

Aluminum is used packaging applications such as beverage and food cans, foils and laminates. It has a high value as a scrap metal and can be recycled economically. An estimated five billion aluminum cans were used in the UK in 2001, 42% of which were recycled. The total recycling rate for all types of aluminum (including aluminum foil, food trays, etc.) was 24% in 2002.

Steel containers are used to package a wide range of products, including food, paint and beverages as well as aerosols. In the UK, thirteen billion steel cans are produced each year. Up to a quarter of new steel cans - more than three billion cans - are made from recycled steel. It is relatively easy to separate through magnetic extraction, making it the world's most commonly recycled materials. The recycling rate for steel, packaging including transport packaging, such as steel drums and bale wire, was 42% in 2002.

Mixed material packaging can in some cases have the benefits of being more resource and energy efficient than single material packaging, but combining materials makes recycling difficult. An example of this type of packaging is 'Tetra Pak' which typically consists of 75% paper, 20% polyethylene and 5% aluminum foil. Although many beverages are sold in this type of packaging, there is currently only one facility to recycle these in Fife, Scotland. There is potential to reprocess mixed material packaging into other products such as floor coverings, shoe soles and car mats.