FPF FlexCollect - the UK’s biggest flexible plastic household collection and recycling pilot goes live

The £2.9m Flexible Plastic Fund FlexCollect project is the most extensive pilot for household collection and recycling of flexible plastic packaging ever undertaken in the UK.
FPF FlexCollect has launched today and is working with a number of volunteer local authorities to implement a series of innovative flexible plastic packaging household collection and recycling pilots that will run through to 2025.
The Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF) project will provide a unique opportunity for government, local authorities, packaging producers and the waste industry to build vital understanding of how to incorporate flexibles into existing collections across different geographies, demographics and collection formats.
The pilot is co-funded by the Flexible Plastic Fund, Defra, UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge (SSPP) and Zero Waste Scotland, with participating local authorities financially supported to roll out and operate pilot kerbside collections over the three-year project.
The pilot is being managed by a consortium comprising the project co-funders, Ecosurety, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, RECOUP and WRAP. A cross-section of industry stakeholders including LARAC, NAWDO, CIWM and ESA will also be involved to ensure the views of all parts of the value chain involved in the collection and recycling of this material are considered.
The project will build an evidence base, share learning and develop best practices and also provide key insights into the operational issues, yields and recyclability of flexible packaging, effective communications with residents and the costs of incorporating it into the UK’s current recycling collection systems.
Overcoming a considerable challenge
Recycling flexible plastic is a considerable challenge as it represented 22% of all UK consumer plastic packaging in 2020, but according to the RECOUP Household Plastics Collection Survey 2021, only 8% was recycled.
To help improve this, last month , as part of their response to the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging consultation.
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