What will it take to build a viable plastics recycling market in the UK, and is current policy giving industry enough certainty to invest?

In the latest EfW Net Podcast, host Stephen Wise is joined by Grahame Woods, Head of Policy at Viridor, and Jamie Warmington, Director at Ceres Waste, Renewables and Environment, to explore the challenges facing UK plastics recycling infrastructure.

The conversation looks at the impact of recent policy delays, including changes to the timetable for the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the collection of flexible plastics, and what that uncertainty means for investment in new recycling capacity.

Grahame and Jamie also discuss the economics behind mechanical and chemical recycling, the challenge of developing reliable markets for recycled materials, and why recycled plastics continue to struggle to compete with cheaper virgin polymers.

The discussion also covers:

• Creating stronger markets for recycled plastics
• The investment challenge facing new recycling infrastructure
• Chemical recycling and the potential role of pyrolysis oil
• Why policy certainty matters for long-term infrastructure projects
• End-of-waste rules and regulatory barriers
• UK and European recycling markets and policy alignment
• Traceability, transparency and waste crime
• Oil price volatility and its impact on recycled versus virgin plastics
• How policy could better incentivise plastics-to-plastics recycling

With recycling infrastructure taking years to finance, develop and build, the episode asks a fundamental question: how can government and industry create the long-term conditions needed to make investment in UK plastics recycling stack up?

For more industry news, podcasts, articles and events, visit EfW Net at network.efwconference.com.

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What does it take to turn an energy-from-waste or anaerobic digestion proposal into a viable, investable project?

In this episode of the Energy from Waste Podcast, Georgie Green visits Paul Winter Consulting in Andover to speak with founder Paul Winter. Drawing on more than 40 years of experience delivering major infrastructure projects, Paul explains how his team supports investors and developers from initial feasibility and financial modelling through to construction, commissioning and handover.

They discuss the UK’s growing energy-security challenge, the importance of reliable baseload power and the role energy from waste and large-scale anaerobic digestion could play alongside wind, solar and nuclear energy.

Paul also explores why waste should increasingly be viewed as a valuable energy resource, the challenges of securing investment, and the planning, permitting and regulatory hurdles that can delay projects before construction has even begun. The conversation also examines carbon capture, including its cost, the lack of a mature market for captured carbon and the need for practical infrastructure to support ambitious net-zero targets.

Listen now to discover how carbon capture could help shape the future of Energy from Waste and the UK's low-carbon economy.

For more industry news, podcasts, articles and events, visit EfW Net at network.efwconference.com.

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In this episode of The Energy from Waste Podcast, we're joined by Nick Henderson, Communications Manager, Andy Bedford, Low Carbon Development Director, and Alex Hudson, Senior Development Manager at Encyclis, to discuss the UK's first full-scale carbon capture project at an Energy from Waste facility – Protos.

The conversation explores how carbon capture technology is being integrated into Energy from Waste operations, the challenges of delivering a first-of-a-kind infrastructure project, and why Protos could play a significant role in the UK's journey towards net zero. The guests also discuss the importance of public understanding, government support, investment, and the wider opportunities carbon capture presents for jobs, skills and future industrial growth.

From infrastructure and policy to innovation and decarbonisation, this episode provides a fascinating insight into one of the most significant developments currently taking place in the UK Energy from Waste sector.

Listen now to discover how carbon capture could help shape the future of Energy from Waste and the UK's low-carbon economy.

For more industry news, podcasts, articles and events, visit EfW Net at network.efwconference.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.