Plastics reprocessor JFC-Delleve has said awareness initiatives like this week's "Big Recycle" campaign should place a priority on encouraging householders to recycle plastic.

The Irish-owned company, which is one of the biggest recycling firms for plastic bottles in the UK, said that because plastic is made from oil, it is "incredibly precious and valuable" compared to other recyclable materials.

Managing director John Concannon said demand for recycled plastics on the global markets remains high, and therefore awareness work should "focus peoples' minds on saving and recycling plastic consumer items such as water bottles".

Mr Concannon said: "While the majority of local authorities now offer waste plastic collection schemes, more needs to be done – for instance, by providing separate collection banks for plastic bottles, and encouraging the public to clean, crush and cap bottles to make recycling easier."

The JFC managing director also suggested that councils should try to have their recycled plastics reprocessed within the UK, suggesting that sending plastic bottles to China meant relying on "crude reprocessing" which "has caused health-damaging pollution".

"So-called 'green initiatives' for recycling will be in vain if local authorities continue to send plastics to China," he said. "Local authorities must ensure recycled bottles are used responsibly and not just disposed of to the highest bidder."

Ealing

The Big Recycle campaign, which officially begins today, was launched on Friday (see letsrecycle.com story) within a London borough that does not collect plastics from the kerbside for recycling.

ECT Recycling, the contractor that provides a fully source-separated kerbside recycling service for residents in Ealing, said that costs for collecting plastics are currently too high because of the low density of the material.

ECT chief executive Stephen Sears said: "Inevitably there will be an additional cost – that is the question that councils have to ask themselves. Recycling plastics is very popular, because as far as residents are concerned it takes up a lot of volume in their bins. But, from a waste management point of view it is a weight issue."

However, he added that his company was looking into the possibility of collecting plastics, and would do so if required by its local authority clients. And, Cllr Sears said: "Looking at getting a much higher proportion of what we collect being recycled, I am coming to the conclusion that plastic looms – local authorities are going to have to find ways to collect it."

One reason the Big Recycle does not focus on the recycling of plastics is that it has been set up by a coalition of materials recycling organisations including British Glass, steel reprocessor Corus, aluminium reprocessor Novelis, paper recycling organisation Paper Chain and packaging compliance scheme Valpak, as well as plastic bottle organisation Recoup.