Final two local authorities join FPF FlexCollect

North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) and Bracknell Forest Council are the last two local authorities to join the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF) FlexCollect flexible plastic collection project.

With the addition of these two final local authorities, there is a total of nine local authorities and over 46,000 households across the UK participating in the FPF FlexCollect project. Expansions are planned for summer 2024, which will increase the number of households covered by the pilots even more.

NWLDC started its pilot collections on 11 March, enabling 6,500 households to collect flexible plastic bags, sachets, packets, and wrapping and recycle these fortnightly alongside their other kerbside recycling boxes.

The pilot in Bracknell Forest, managed in partnership with Re3, started collections on 18 March and includes 10,000 households across the area.

As the largest kerbside collection and recycling pilot in the UK, FPF FlexCollect includes households across a variety of areas and demographics, to understand how to best implement effective communications and increase household participation.

Sharing valuable insights

With the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) from 2025 and Simpler Recycling reforms in March 2027, the FPF FlexCollect project provides meaningful insights for the flexible plastic packaging value chain to prepare it for mandatory kerbside collections.

In January 2024, FPF FlexCollect released an Interim Report, authored by SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK. It shares the results and insights from the seven kerbside collection pilots at the project’s halfway point. These encouraging results will help local authorities, packaging producers, the plastic industry, policymakers and the waste and resource management industry prepare for UK-wide collections.

Increasing opportunities