Plastics once destined for landfill or low-value use are now being turned into packaging-grade feedstock, with all high-grade material from mixed bales recovered for reuse. The process has been developed by Recycling Lives Services (RLS), a B Corp-certified recycling and compliance provider registered with Social Enterprise UK, and is already being used by major retailers, including John Lewis.
Recycling Lives Services
The recovered feedstock is packaging-grade and in high demand, helping producers meet recycled content requirements under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms. With the supply of suitable recycled plastics still limited, the ability to recover value from previously unusable material is increasingly important.
Recycling Lives Services (RLS) achieves this through intensive hand-separation at its Preston and Cradley Heath sites. By isolating valuable polymers such as LDPE from contaminated bales, the company ensures high-quality material is returned to the market. This provides traceable compliance evidence while reducing reliance on virgin polymer. For John Lewis, RLS was able to establish the service in just two weeks, preventing the need to stockpile plastics while seeking a recycling solution.
“The process we use leads to an exceptionally high-quality product which we always experience strong demand for, and in addition, nothing goes to landfill,” said Mark Simpson, Commodities Director at RLS. He continues, “We know from feedback that the John Lewis Partnership values the service, which has ensured a great outcome for their material”.
The separation process also supports RLS’s distinctive social impact model. Around 15% of its workforce are Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) staff from local prisons. ROTLs at both the Preston and Cradley Heath sites work in plastics separation and baling, gaining skills, paid employment and a pathway to future work on release.
This approach not only addresses labour shortages within recycling but also contributes to rehabilitation. RLS operates eight prison academies nationally and reports a reoffending rate of less than 5% among participants, compared with a UK average of around 25%.
One ROTL employee at the Preston site said, “This job has given me a real opportunity to learn skills and earn a wage before release. It feels good knowing the work I do is helping reduce plastic waste and will give me a better chance of finding a job in the future.”
By combining innovative separation methods, compliance expertise and measurable social value, RLS is helping clients generate revenue from waste in a way that many organisations have previously been unable to achieve.
Lucas Hargreaves, Projects Director at RLS, added: “By upgrading mixed plastics into packaging-grade feedstock, we’re helping producers cut reliance on virgin material and meet their obligations. What sets this model apart is the way it combines commercial efficiency with environmental results and real social impact.”
As competition for recycled plastics intensifies, innovations that deliver both commercial and social outcomes are likely to become more attractive to producers seeking to balance compliance, cost and reputation. With support from household-name retailers, the model demonstrates another way UK recycling can meet market and policy demands.