Maldon District Council joins FPF FlexCollect

Maldon District Council joins the first two pilots in Cheltenham and South Gloucestershire which started in October 2022. They will be part of nine pilots across England that will help to make recycling plastic bags and wrapping more convenient for everyone, which will increase the amount of packaging that the UK recycles.

Councillor Penny Channer, Leader of Maldon District Council, said: “I am extremely pleased that our District has been chosen to be part of this trial, and the only authority in Essex to be chosen so far. This trial is another step towards making the District more environmentally sustainable and reducing our carbon footprint through the reduction of plastics going to landfill.

“While this is only a trial at the moment, I look forward to seeing this scheme rolled out to all residents by the end of 2024. I would like to thank officers in our Waste Services team at Maldon District Council, our waste collection contractor, SUEZ UK, and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), for their work in bringing this exciting scheme to the Maldon District.”

Solution for flexible plastics recycling

Flexible plastics are a considerable challenge as they represented 22% of all UK consumer plastic packaging in 2020 but only 8% were recycled from kerbside collections. Supermarket front-of-store collection points recycle plastic bags and wrapping. This trial will help to change that by helping to inform government and industry on how flexible plastics should be added to existing household recycling collection services ahead of the introduction of consistent collections for all households in England in 2027.

Thomas Merry, Technical Development Manager for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and FPF Project Director, said: ‘As a pilot, the project needs to consider how flexible plastics can be incorporated into different collection systems, in different areas. Recruiting Maldon for the project allows us to expand the pilot into the south east and twin-stream recycling collections, at the same time as giving participating residents the opportunity to recycle more of their waste."

Read more about the FPF FlexCollect project here.