The last straw: how businesses should think about plastic

It’s tough to be plastic these days – and rightfully so. It would seem the days of thoughtless consumerism around plastic is over, with a keen focus on changed attitudes as awareness grows.

That said, of the over 5 million tonnes of plastic waste produced in UK each year, only around a quarter of it is recycled. It’s well-known, but it bears repeating: our consumption of plastic is unsustainable. Within the business environment, the following are some key considerations around plastic recycling in the workplace.

THINK ABOUT (AND ACT FOR) THE ENVIRONMENT

• Environmental concerns around plastics arise long before they end up in the ocean. The manufacture of plastics also has environmental consequences. Plastics are a chemical bond of oil and gas and this process is energy- and resource-intensive.
• Plastic infamously takes a very long time to break down. In landfill, combined with other waste forms, toxic leachate from plastics are released into the ground, often ending up in our water systems. These are damaging to human health, wildlife, and eco-systems. Large volumes of plastic also end up in streams, rivers, and the ocean. This is extremely harmful to marine wildlife and eco-systems.
• We need a healthy environment for our own health. The contamination of our water sources and the food we consume from the oceans has potentially dire health effects.

GOVERNMENT’S AIMS

• A target of 50% of the UK’s plastic to be recycled by 2020
• Three quarters of the UK’s plastic to be recycled by 2035
• In addition to single-use plastic regulations, the Government is proposing a number of regulations around plastic usage. One of the main areas affecting businesses is packaging. Government aims to tax plastic packaging which is made from less than 30% recycled material and impose a ban on plastic packaging where another material could be used in its place.

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR PLASTIC WASTE TIPS

• Be mindful of how you and your business consume plastics. Are alternatives available? If so, use them.
• Re-use your plastics wherever possible. Be conscientious around packaging and try to innovate around ways to use your plastics elsewhere.
• Make waste management a part of your business strategy. Recycling culture has myriad benefits for businesses – including potential cost savings and an enhanced reputation for responsible business.
• Recycle responsibly. This means avoiding contamination wherever possible. Educate your employees on what goes into which bin, cleaning, and readying your bins for recycling.

PLASTIC RECYCLING QUICK FACTS

• What plastic can be recycled?Every plastic can be recycled. It’s just that some are more costly and complicated to recycle. Your plastic water bottle? This is one of the most commonly recycled forms of plastic. The least recycled plastic? Polystyrene.
• What is dry mix recycling?Recycling creates new products and components from old products. Dry mix recycling takes uncontaminated plastic items (and other products like glass, aluminium cans, cardboard, and paper) and gives it new life, reducing its impact and the resources associated with creating new products.
• Single-stream recycling.A time- and cost-effective recycling solution for many businesses, single-stream recycling removes the need for bin system and assumes the responsibility for cleaning and sorting waste on your business’s behalf.

DOES YOUR BUSINESS HAVE AN EFFECTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY?

For many businesses, waste management is a question of cost – and understandably so. It makes sound business sense to shop the market for the best rates on everyday business services. However, every business stands to benefit from the advice of waste specialists. This allows for waste management solutions tailored to every business’s unique set of requirements and circumstances. This is the aim of the team at Smarter Business. Click here to find out more about their waste management and other utility and business services.

No-deal Brexit puts UK ‘at risk of severe downturn’

Economic growth in Britain has stalled and there is a one-in-four chance that the country is entering into a recession, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

The think tank said that the outlook was “very murky” and warned of the possibility of a “severe downturn” if Britain leaves the EU without a deal after October 31. The institute said that a no-deal Brexit would “throw concrete” in the wheels of the British economy, knocking 5 per cent off gross domestic product in the long term.

“A no-deal exit will mean a significant halt in economic activity and chronic levels of economic uncertainty,” it said. “There is around a one-in-four chance the economy is already in a technical recession.” A recession is defined as two successive quarters of falling GDP.

Niesr is Britain’s oldest independent economic research institute. Its forecasts for the British economy have performed well in recent years. Last year it ranked in the top third among a list of 30 leading forecasters, each of whom made predictions about GDP, inflation, unemployment and interest rates.

The think tank said the short-term impact of a disorderly exit could be mitigated by a cut to interest rates and more quantitative easing, but these would do little to offset the downturn in the long term. Niesr has forecast that interest rates could fall to 0.25 per cent by the end of this year but they would have to rebound to 1.75 per cent by the end of next year.

It also said the Treasury would have to jettison its fiscal rule that government borrowing should be below 2 per cent of GDP by 2020. The budget deficit would rise to 2.7 per cent of GDP in the event of no deal. Jagjit Chadha, Niesr’s director said: “However we look at it, there will not be much economic joy in a no-deal Brexit.”

The warning comes as Theresa May prepares to stand down as prime minister. Either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will succeed her. Mr Johnson, the favourite to win the Tory party leadership, has vowed to push through Brexit by October 31 “do or die”, raising expectations of a no-deal Brexit.

Even a smooth Brexit transition would unlock growth of just 1.2 per cent in 2019 and 1.1. per cent in 2020, while inflation would rise to 4.1 per cent. This is because investment and productivity growth remains weak and uncertainties about future trading relationships are likely to last beyond October. The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in May after contracting by 0.4 per cent in April. Economists believe that second-quarter growth will fall to either zero or -0.1 per cent when the official figures are released next month.

Niesr noted that while Brexit-related uncertainty is holding back business investment and productivity, consumer spending continues to be supported by a strong labour market and sustained wage growth. According to the latest IHS Markit household finance index, consumer confidence rose for a second consecutive month, although still in negative territory, up to 44.3 in July from 43.9 in June.

Niesr’s downbeat assessment extended to the global economy. Citing trade tensions between the US and China, the think tank cut its forecasts for global economic growth to 3.3 per cent this year, the slowest annual growth for a decade.