Plastic Tax

The UK Plastic Packaging Tax

From the 7th April 2022, plastic packaging components manufactured in and imported into the UK will be liable for a specific material tax where it does not meet a minimum recycled content of 30% by weight.

This is a new tax that applies to plastic packaging produced in, or imported into the UK that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is packaging that is predominantly plastic by weight.

It will not apply to any plastic packaging which contains at least 30% recycled plastic, or any packaging which is not predominantly plastic by weight.

 Imported plastic packaging will be liable to the tax, whether the packaging is unfilled or filled.

Over the past few months Smartlift has contacted a large number of fellow suppliers in the FIBC trade and headed up an objection campaign asking the UK Government to consider excluding FIBC’s from the tax for the following reasons;

• Many FIBC’s are made for food contact.
• Incorporation 30% recycled material will affect the structural integrity of the bag.
• There is currently no consistent or reliable supply of recycled feedstock in the world that can satisfy the demand of the world’s producers of polypropylene. Recycled PP needs to be of the highest quality in order to have the required tensile strength for an FIBC.
• A 1000kg bulk bag can hold the same amount of product as FORTY 25kg sacks, making the filling process much, much quicker thus reducing massive energy costs related to plant and manpower.
• We can send up to 1000 FIBC’s on just one pallet to our clients making the product very emission friendly.
• Companies can send one filled bag via a pallet network instead of running an artic for such a small load.
• In most cases, as bags have lifting loops, there is no need for pallets, which eliminates a major cost and more importantly saves on a precious resource.
• When empty, due to their flexibility, FIBC’s can be folded down, taking up a fraction of space on return loads compared to the rigid alternative.
• Even a single trip bag is tested to hold 5 times its safe working load. So, a bag designed to hold 1000kg of product is tested to 5000kg before it is issued a certificate, giving fillers the peace of mind needed for the safe transportation of often valuable products.
• The bag is made up of 99% polypropylene making it easy to recycle in terms of separation. Most paper packaging is made up of different components (often plastic) making them very difficult to recycle.
• FIBC’s can be customised to suit material, plant and distribution systems.

Despite our efforts, the government has unfortunately decided to ignore our appeal and as it stands today, in April 2022 our product will be included in the tax @ £200 per tonne. On average a bag weighs around 1kg so this equates to around 20p a bag which will ultimately be paid for by the consumer.

We in the FIBC trade agree with the proposals of a plastic tax in principle, especially as the revenue should be put straight back into the recycling infrastructure but we do NOT see our product as a throwaway single use plastic that’s often found on a supermarket shelf.  It is a robust, often reusable and fully recyclable product that is designed to be an alternative to other labour intensive, high emission container solutions and at a fraction of the cost.

We have of course developed a bag containing 30% recycled content using a higher fabric weight.  However, as mentioned above, there just is not a consistent stream of quality recycled granulate to service the worlds manufacturing demands at the moment.  The cost of using recycled polymers will undoubtedly be higher than using virgin material initially.

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