The research saw 2,000 people across the UK surveyed in July this year.
It found that the average British person is planning approximately five BBQs this summer – which generates 4.5 billion pieces of plastic through items like sausage packs and plastic cups.
Confusion around BBQ waste
DS Smith has concerns over recycling confusion, its managing director of recycling and paper in Europe, Michael Orye, commented: “Having so many different ways to recycle across the UK is simply confusing for everyone, and when more plastic hits the clunky UK recycling system, it can contaminate paper and card and creates waste, which drags down how much we can recycle.
He added: “We’d ask that people do their best to follow their local recycling rules, but also that the new government marinate on the UK’s rickety recycling system and give it the renovation it needs, including separate collections for paper and card.”
One quarter of those surveyed admitted to not recycling BBQ food packaging because of unclear labels and more than one in eight says they do not recycle packaging because they are unsure of recycling rules in their local area.
Risk of contamination
Over summer 2023, DS Smith said it had to recycle over 2,600 tonnes of plastic that was contaminated by paper and card.
Modelling carried out by DS Smith suggested that, based on the current pathway, the UK’s paper and card recycling rate could drop from 74% to 56% by 2030.
Data shows that when paper and cardboard are collected in mixed recycling systems, there can be up to double the amount of plastic in the mix than paper and card than when these materials are collected separately.
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