SPONSORED FEATURE
Rishi, your plastic bottle deposit return scheme is welcome – but igus beat you to it
T
o tackle the growing problem of plastic bottles waste found everywhere, including in our running waters, the UK
government has fi nally given the green light to a plastic bottle deposit return scheme. As it happens, igus has already paved the way with its popular “chainge” scheme for end-of-life e-chains and a new recycling program for tackling old cables.
Welcome to a new scheme Consumers in the UK go through an estimated 13 billion plastic drinks bottles a year, of which only 7.5 billion are recycled, with the rest entering landfi ll, littered or incinerated. On 20 January this year, the
government announced plans to deploy Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for plastic bottles and drink cans in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2025. The system will work similarly to a reverse vending machine, where bottles are returned for money or credits. A DRS scheme in Scotland is planned to go online this August; consumers will pay
Consumers in the UK go through an estimated 13 billion plastic drinks bottles a year
20p deposit when they buy a drink that comes in a single-use container made of PET plastic, steel or aluminium. They will get their money back when they return the empty container to one of tens of thousands of return points. The new DRS has been broadly welcomed by soft drinks manufacturers who will modify their labelling to promote the new scheme. Matthew Aldridge, Managing Director of igus in Northampton, recalls as a young boy returning glass bottles to the newsagent to exchange for 10 pence, which he then promptly spent on cheap sweets loaded with artifi cial ingredients! Now we see history repeat itself with a reward- based DRS designed to reduce plastic pollution.
Chainge programme is igus’s DRS
As a manufacturer of engineering components made from high-tech plastics, igus takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. For several years, igus has been running its own DRS for plastic e-chains that have reached their end of life. Many of these heavy- duty and robust engineered plastic chains were previously thrown out, ending up in landfi ll because there is no specialist recovery service for them. The igus chain DRS scheme is manufacturer-agnostic and open to all plastic cable chain models. The recovered plastic is cleaned,
regranulated and then reused for making new products – a true circular mini-economy. A credit note is given in exchange for the plastic chain, an amount determined by weight, currently £0.62 per kilogram. As igus prefers names rather than acronyms, this is known as the “chainge” program. But this is not all! Inspired by the scheme, product manager for igus cables in the UK, Daisy Durrant, thought of developing a similar program for end-of-life cables. The result is a cable recycling program – another variant
40 February 2023 | Automation
igus’s DRS program uses the proceeds of returns of end-of-life cables to fund tree planting across the UK in partnership with charity The Woodland Trust
of DRS. Once again, used electrical and electronic cables are returned to igus in Northampton, where the plastic out-jacket is separated from the metal conductors. The plastic is then regranulated, just like in the chainge program. The metal content is then sold, but unlike the chainge program, no credit note is issued. Instead, the proceeds are used in partnership with charity The Woodland Trust, to fund tree planting across the country.
If the scheme is a success and makes
a profit from recycled plastic bottles from 2025, perhaps the UK government could take a similar positive and pro- environment action? Working together, industry and consumers can reduce carbon emissions and make a real difference to our world.
CONTACT:
igus
www.igus.co.uk
automationmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50
