J&B News & Updates

04.07.25

This week, J&B Recycling welcomed visitors from both the UK and New Zealand to our Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Hartlepool, as part of the Flexible Plastic Fund’s ongoing FlexCollect initiative.

Our Commercial Manager, Mark Penny, hosted Lyn Mayes, Scheme Manager for New Zealand’s Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, and Gareth Morton, Discovery Manager at Ecosurety, one of the key delivery and funding partners of the FlexCollect project.

The visit formed part of a broader knowledge-sharing effort focused on the challenges and opportunities in kerbside recycling of flexible plastic packaging. Materials such as plastic bags, film, and wrappers, which are typically difficult to collect and recycle through traditional waste systems

About the FlexCollect Initiative

J&B Recycling has been a key processing partner in the FPF FlexCollect scheme since its rollout in Newcastle in June 2023. The trial initially involved 7,000 homes using blue "survival bags" to collect flexible plastics alongside their regular recycling. These materials are then sorted and processed at our Hartlepool facility.

A Global Perspective

Lyn Mayes leads the national soft plastics recycling effort in New Zealand and is currently exploring options to introduce kerbside collection trials for flexible plastics there. Her visit offered valuable insight into how the UK is approaching these challenges through FlexCollect, and how this learning might inform similar schemes overseas.

Ecosurety, represented by Gareth Morton, plays a central role in the FlexCollect project, managing funding, partnerships, and coordination on behalf of the Flexible Plastic Fund, a collaboration involving Defra, Zero Waste Scotland, UKRI, and major brands like Mars, Nestlé, and Mondelez.

Looking Ahead

J&B Recycling is proud to be part of this national trial and committed to finding scalable, sustainable solutions for materials traditionally seen as hard to recycle. As FlexCollect grows, so does the opportunity to redefine how flexible plastics are handled in kerbside collections, both here in the UK and internationally.

We’d like to thank Lyn and Gareth for visiting and sharing in this important journey toward a more circular approach to plastic packaging.