Stockpiling begins as commodity collapse hits Ireland

In response to the collapse, recycling and waste management firms held an emergency meeting on Friday evening (October 31) in Portlaoise near Dublin, which announced that greater capacity would be needed for continued collection of recycled materials as many companies have begun temporarily amassing products in hope of the market recovering.

This measure has been identified as a temporary response to material prices dropping by 75% over the past few weeks.

Ireland currently exports around 80% of material collected from households and businesses, and the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), the national waste management trade body, claimed that the decline in prices has led to limited exports and “effectively closing markets for these materials”.

Minister for environment John Gormley said: “We have a short-term market failure and I recognise that this presents serious challenges for the waste industry.

“The most urgent problem is to have more storage capacity in place and over the past week my department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been working with the industry to identify the options and to ensure that any necessary approval procedures are prioritised,” he added.

Stockpile

In response to increased stockpiling, the Government is due to permit the EPA to amend companies' licences to allow them to stockpile material if they have a suitable location on an existing facility, or, if they have the ability to store up to 1000 tonnes of dry recyclables in a warehouse, they can get a certificate of registration from the local authority to do so.

Provisions could also see licence amendments made to companies so they can store up to 50,000 tonnes in a warehouse if they get a waste permit from the local authority, or grant the ability to store an unlimited amount in a warehouse if they get a waste licence from the EPA.

The short term stockpiling, which echoes moves made by the UK plastic recycling sector (see letsrecycle.com story), has been undertaken as companies attempt to ride out the price decline.

Chairman of the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), Jim Kells, said: “We also made a number of suggestions to the regulators on how the immediate issue of storage can be addressed within the current licensing framework.

“The IWMA recognises that increased storage is an immediate but only a short-term means of addressing the problem. In the longer-term we must address other more significant issues, and industry will work closely with the Minister of the Environment and other stakeholders in doing this,” he added.

Greenstar Ireland – the Irish sister company of Aylesbury-based Greenstar UK – has voiced support for the relaxing of licencing to enable storage of materials in the short term and has met with Repak, the Irish packaging recovery scheme, to ensure “the continued recycling of packaging waste”.

Geoff Bailey, managing director of waste processing with Greenstar, said: “In the short term to medium term, we would call on the Government to be more proactive and to incentivise “upcycling” – the concept of keeping recyclable commodities in Ireland and converting them into products rather than being wholly reliant on international markets.”

Aid

The Irish Government has set up an Action Group comprised of stakeholders, the EPA, local authorities and the ministry for environment to help support Irish firms in any way that it can. However, the Government is prevented from offering financial aid due to State aid legislation.

Mr Gormley said: “I am acutely aware of the difficulties faced by operators and inevitably there have been calls for possible interventions by Government. We must remember that this is a commercial sector which would generally be quite profitable but will now have to work its way through a difficult period.

“However, it also plays a very important role in supporting Government policy on waste management so I want to help in any way that's open to me,” he added.

Fears have been raised that the decline in prices could lead to local authorities across Ireland levying an increased charge for the collection of recycled material, with residents currently charged around €5 (£4) for a large refuse sack in a bid to incentivise them to recycle as much as possible.