Plastics innovation has tripled – but the UK must keep pace

Never let it be said the plastics industry stands still. A new report landed in my inbox this week, which found that innovation in plastics technologies has more than tripled since 2015. The key driver? It’s not hard to guess, it is of course, sustainability. Specifically, sustainability as driven by legislation. The report, which came to me from GovGrant, also found that rubber innovation is the leading technology in the UK, with over 30 technologies filed in the period from 2015.

The report also found that the majority of the innovation was coming from the far east. Now, it’s worth noting that the measure of ‘innovation’ used here is based on patent filings – certainly not the only yardstick (and not a measure of commercial viability, either). China and Japan bagged nearly half of the patent filings in plastic innovation. Europe came second to Asia: Germany made the top four countries for patent filings, with the UK coming in seventh place.

I would expect the UK to move up that ranking in the next couple of years. For one thing, the plastics packaging tax, while currently raking in more money for HMRC than was ever predicted, will have to be a catalyst for innovation eventually. We’re already seeing some new technologies being developed – the University of Manchester spin-out Recon2 additive for quantifying recycled material content, for example, is receiving significant interest from brand owners.

Legislation – and speculative legislation - since 2015 has ramped up. The Paris Agreement was in 2015, the plastic packaging tax, and a UN-backed agreement for a global plastics treaty all mean that countries have to start backing those technologies that will ensure plastic can be used and re-used responsibly and sustainably. With a single-use plastic ban due to take effect in England from October, plus the PPT, plus a recently announced £3.2 million investment in UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP), it seems here in the UK there’s no end to the amount of incentives, bans, taxes and regulations designed – with the very best intentions – of keeping the industry as green as possible. However, as we saw with the PPT, in practise it’s not a quick process. While the innovators are busying themselves trying to produce the technology to adhere to new rules, the processors and converters must find ways to adapt and keep up with the pace of change.

As Raffi Schieir, Director of Prevented Ocean Plastic, put it: “Innovation in plastic technology is crucial, as businesses try to reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint, but the single biggest area where they can have an immediate effect is to accelerate their use of recycled material. That’s not to say material is the only source of innovation available to manufacturers, but it’s those early adopters who will quickly distinguish themselves from the pack in today’s commercial landscape. So many companies are falling behind in the race to meet their 2025 commitments, but the ones who are at the forefront are the true innovators.” We caught up with Raffi recently to talk through the challenges facing innovators in this specific area, plus much more – susbscribe to the Interplas Insights podcast via your podcast player of choice to hear the interview when it lands.