There are many different types of plastic in use, some of which we can recycle in the UK and other types – including that used to make yoghurt pots and margarine tubs for example - that require new technology which as yet is not currently available here, to recycle it efficiently.  This means that some plastic still goes to landfill, some is incinerated and some shipped abroad for recycling and foreign manufacturing reuse.

However, there are currently huge investments being made in Britain into plastics recycling technology to help our domestic recycling facilities cope with the variety of plastics in use and it won’t be long before we operate a more efficient recycling system for all different types of plastic packaging.

In the meantime we can all do our bit to improve things now.  Recycling plastic bottles is an easy way.  These are usually made from two easily recyclable plastics – PET and HDPE – and can be recycled by most of us via our kerbside collection scheme or local recycling centres.