It was just a few weeks ago that deputy PM Nick Clegg addressed an audience in London to challenge the view that protecting the environment and protecting the economy are mutually exclusive. It is a myth, he said, that green growth is just for the good times Our dilemma is not choosing between green and growth. Its marrying the two.
Politics, aside, I believe this is true. When WRAP first started out in 2000, the focus was very much on the environmental impacts of the way we dealt with waste. Finding solutions other than landfill for the materials we no longer wanted or needed drove our activity.
In 2006 we began to become far more aware of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from waste and adapted our workflow accordingly.
Today, our focus has again adjusted, with the financial and economic benefits of becoming more resource efficient taking centre stage. Thats not to say reducing greenhouse gasses and volumes sent to landfill have slipped down the agenda: they continue to be hugely important. But we recognise that these environmental activities are inextricably linked to economic performance.
Take, for example, plastics recycling. In 2002, when we began working in this area, recycling rates were below 5% and there was little or no reprocessing infrastructure for plastics to speak of in the UK. The only alternative to landfill was to export the material for recycling, or send it to energy-from-waste facilities.
Infrastructure
The UK might have boosted recycling rates by expanding its exports. Instead, thanks to technological innovation, financial support (eg from the WRAP mixed plastics loan fund and the accelerated growth loan fund) and entrepreneurial vision, a commercially-viable UK-based solution was developed. Today, more than 80,000 tonnes of plastic packaging gets recycled every year.
Take, for example, the Biffa Polymers mixed plastics recycling facility in Redcar.
Built with support from WRAP, on behalf of the government, the plant is the first facility in the UK to recycle rigid mixed plastics packaging.
The resulting product is being put to a wide range of end uses, such as paint trays, car parts and office furniture, replacing the need to use virgin plastic. Some of the output is processed at Biffas food-grade HDPE recycling facility at the same site, and used for the manufacture of milk bottles.
Plastics
Critically, the plant has boosted the local economy, created jobs and provides an additional income stream for Biffa. In fact, if you look at it in the round, plastics recycling has established an entire, new industry which produces valuable raw materials from waste, which in turn has resulted in thousands of jobs being created. And the environmental benefits are clear plastic is diverted from landfill, carbon emissions are reduced, and fewer virgin resources are required.
One of the areas of work were looking at, which ties in with the Waste Framework Directive, is how business can successfully decouple waste and economic performance. We know that some industry sectors seem able to grow GDP while at the same time, waste is reducing. This isnt the case across the board, with some companies achieving growth and, at the same time, their levels of waste are increasing.
If we can identify why and where this is happening and hardwire in waste prevention, well be better placed to develop solutions that unlock greater economic potential and bring much needed benefits for UK plc.
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