UK’s Recycling & Reprocessing Association will exhibit at the RWM 2017 waste management event in Birmingham, UK on 12-14 September, representing 10 of the sector’s most influential organisations including the British Plastics Federation, Recoup, Resource Association and the Recycling Association.

The organisations represent many of the UK’s top recycling and reprocessing organisations as well as SMEs that operate within the waste management industry, which has an annual turnover of £11 billion and directly employs 106,000 people.

UK collections of recovered plastic totalled 1.8 million tonnes in 2016, while plastic packaging recycling increased by 15% between 2015 and 2016 to reach 45%.

In a statement on 1 September, the association said it aimed to ensure that recycled materials are considered as “preferred manufacturing feedstock over virgin materials.”

“We’re getting closer to a point where secondary is the new primary. By working collaboratively across the supply chain, with government, and by focusing on quality, secondary commodities are increasingly being selected over virgin alternatives,” said Simon Ellin of the Recycling Association.

RWM is an event covering waste, energy, recycling and water sectors, with over 500 exhibitors and 11,000 visitors from the UK and abroad. The show will be held in Birmingham, UK on 12-14 Sept.