Valpak maps England’s flexible plastics challenge

New research from Valpak by Reconomy has quantified the scale, cost and infrastructure challenges facing English local authorities as household collections of flexible plastics expand over the coming years.

Commissioned by the Local Government Association, the study examines how much plastic film enters household waste streams, how councils could collect and sort it, what recycling capacity is available and how much nationwide implementation could cost.

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes enter household waste

Valpak estimates that approximately 770,000 tonnes of plastic film are placed on the market annually in England from household and commercial sources. Around 392,000 tonnes enter household waste streams, equivalent to just over half of the total.

Despite this volume, councils currently collect only around 15,000 tonnes of household film for recycling each year. Under nationwide collection, Valpak estimates that the amount recovered could initially rise to approximately 96,000 tonnes annually.

Existing infrastructure faces capacity limitations

The research indicates that current UK infrastructure would struggle to process a rapid increase in collected flexible plastics. Approximately 145,000 tonnes of film sorting capacity and 139,000 tonnes of reprocessing capacity are currently available.

Some of this infrastructure is already required for commercial film and rigid plastic streams, meaning additional investment will be necessary if significantly larger volumes of household flexible packaging are to be collected and recycled domestically.

Collection costs vary considerably between councils

Valpak estimates that collecting and managing household plastic film across England could cost between £82 million and £301 million annually. This corresponds to approximately £3 to £12 per household.

The wide range reflects differences in existing waste systems, housing types, collection contracts, sorting arrangements and whether flexible plastics are collected loose or inside dedicated bags.

Not all film will be covered by packaging EPR

Another complication is that not all flexible plastic found in household waste qualifies as packaging. The study estimates that around 14% consists of non-packaging material, including items that fall outside packaging extended producer responsibility funding.

This could leave councils responsible for some collection and treatment costs even as packaging EPR payments support the management of obligated packaging materials.

No single collection model fits every authority

Valpak stresses that local conditions will determine which collection models are practical. Dense urban housing, high-rise buildings, rural communities and traditional kerbside collection areas can present very different storage, contamination and logistics challenges.

Material recovery facilities may also require equipment upgrades to handle films without contaminating other valuable recycling streams such as paper and cardboard.

Flexible plastics require investment across the system

The findings reinforce the wider challenge facing flexible packaging recycling in the UK. Increasing household collection alone will not create circularity unless sorting infrastructure, reprocessing capacity and stable end markets expand at the same time.

For packaging producers, councils and recyclers, the study provides new evidence on the investment required to turn flexible plastics from a difficult waste stream into a material that can be collected and recycled consistently at scale.