Resources

The 2024 Textiles Market Situation Report updates on the present state of the UK textiles market.

The 2022 Plastics Market Situation report updates on the amount of plastic packaging Placed On the Market (POM), collection rates, recycling rates, and provides an update on key developments over the past few years highlighting the challenges and opportunities ahead.

• Fall in plastic packaging placed on the market
• Movement away from rigid plastic packaging towards lightweight and flexible plastics in the consumer sector.  
• Domestic recycling of plastic has increased to 53%.
• Planned recycling capacity increases will be a boost but will still fall well below current levels of plastic packaging consumption.  
• Collection rates are improving for plastic packaging with more flexible plastic, rigid plastics, plastic bottles and PTTs being collected at kerbside. 

Through The UK Plastics Pact we are redesigning the plastics system, working across the entire plastics value chain to reduce its climate impact, by stopping plastic waste, and the harmful emissions of new plastic production, keeping the material in the economy and out of the environment.

We are over halfway to The UK Plastics Pact targets and our 2021-22 annual report gives an honest appraisal of progress and challenges. 

In February 2022 the UK Government published a Levelling Up White Paper, outlining policy interventions which aim to improve opportunity and boost livelihoods across the country as we recover from the pandemic.  At the same time, as the Government seeks to deliver its Net Zero Strategy.  The challenge is therefore how we can level up and grow our economy whilst also reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2021 Plastics Market situation report provides in-depth information on the latest economic, market and regulatory trends affecting the capture and recycling of plastics. It explores key developments over the past few years and highlights the challenges and opportunities for the decade ahead.

WRAP works with governments, businesses and citizens to create a world in which resources are used sustainably. Read our April 2020-21 annual review to learn more about our mission to accelerate the move to a sustainable, resource-efficient economy.

This report provides an update to the market situation discussed in our first Paper Market Situation Report which was published in 2010. This update looks at the key developments since that report was published including trends in paper collections and recycling, risks and opportunities in the main end markets for the UK's recovered paper, trends in recovered paper prices and policy and legislative issues.

In this webinar Peter Sainsbury, WRAP Lead Economist, talks about the shifts in recovered materials, including plastics, paper and card, textiles, metal and glass price volatility. Debbie Palfrey, WRAP Cymru Materials Marketing & Compliance Advisor, also discusses learning from Materials Marketing in Wales and strategies local authorities can employ.

The 2019 Textiles Market Situation Report highlights developments in the market for UK used textiles as well as key factors shaping the outlook for the sector.

Join WRAP economist Peter Sainsbury, author of the Plastics Market Situation report, in a discussion on key developments in the plastics sector, specifically looking at how the amount of packaging produced and the closing of overseas export markets could impact local authorities.

WRAP has launched a series of market situation reports providing in-depth information on the latest economic trends and developments facing the UK’s recycling industry. Each report focuses on a different material stream and is presented in a compact, easily digestible format.