Vac-Flex Recycling Pack

Vac-Flex项目的目的是评估英国家庭软塑料包装废物的可重复使用真空包装收集方法的可行性。软塑料包装将由家庭分离并收集到一个专用容器中，该容器可以存储，也可以暂时压缩废物，以减少在超市或类似回收设施单独存放之前存储和运输的体积，或准备在路边收集。真空包装方法节省空间的优点，将使家庭更容易、更方便和更有吸引力地将软塑料包装废物分类和收集，以便循环再造，并且在空间和成本方面更有效率，让回收商收集和运送物料，以便在合适的物料加工设施作进一步分类和处理。为方便收集工作，和再循环过程中，锁定和释放真空容器将是可运输和可更换的，其中满的容器在收集点由空的容器补充，并且一旦满的容器被运输到处理设施，在那里它们被清空，它们可以被清洁，测试，并送回收集站或废物收集商，再送回住户，家庭分离和收集软塑料包装废物的优点和激励是，用真空包装容器这样做将减少废物在他们家中占用的空间，而且在他们的其他废物流和收集方法中也是如此，比如厨房垃圾桶，塑料袋，对于这些目前难以收集和回收的柔性塑料包装废物形式，有一种专门的收集方法也将鼓励家庭参与回收过程，并使有价值的材料能够流通和再利用，否则这些材料将被浪费，并需要由包装行业用原始材料代替，因此也将增加商业价值。支持回收计划的激励措施。虽然该项目将仅通过用户试验和行业反馈来小规模测试概念的可行性，以审查和改进可能的解决方案，但潜在的材料，成本和环境节约直接来自现有材料的循环，间接来自提取和加工原材料的节约，在这个项目可以解锁的规模上将更加重要，尽管在地方一级的进一步试验和在国家一级的更重要。

The Vac-Flex project aim is to assess the feasibility of a reusable vacuum pack collection method for flexible plastic packaging waste from UK households.Flexible plastic packaging will be separated and collected by households into a dedicated container that stores and can also temporarily compress the waste to reduce the volume it takes for storage and transportation prior to individual deposits at supermarkets or similar recycling facilities, or in preparation for kerbside collection.The space saving advantage from the vacuum pack method will make it easier, more convenient and appealing for households to separate and collect the flexible plastic packaging waste for recycling and more efficient, space and cost wise, for recyclers to collect and transport the materials for further sorting and treatment at suitable material processing facilities.To facilitate this collection and recycling process, the lock & release vacuum container will be transportable and replaceable where full containers are replenished by empty containers at the point of collection and once full containers have been transported to a processing facility where they are emptied, they could be cleaned, tested, and returned to a collection point or waste collector to be passed back onto households for re-filling.The advantages and incentives for households to separate and collect the flexible plastic packaging waste are that doing so with the vacuum pack container will reduce the space the waste takes up in their home but also within their other waste streams and collection methods such as kitchen bins, plastic bags, bulky containers or wheelie bins.Having a dedicated collection method for these currently difficult to collect and recycle forms of flexible plastic packaging waste will also encourage households to engage with the recycling process and enable the circulation and reuse of valuable materials that would otherwise be wasted and require replacing with virgin materials by the packaging industry and therefore would also add to commercial incentives to support the recycling scheme.Although this project will only test the feasibility of the concept on a small scale with user trials and industry feedback to review and refine a possible solution, the potential material, cost and environmental savings both directly from the circulation of existing materials and indirectly from the saving to extract and process raw materials, would be more significant at the scale that this project could unlock, though further trails at a local level and much more significant at a national level.