Speaking at an Onyx seminar in London, Mr Veys said that current trends in legislation including the proximity and self-sufficiency principles should not apply to recyclables. And he urged that the precautionary principle should not be used to stop the movement of material for recycling. “A major threat to recycling is the lack of distinction between waste destined for recovery and disposal. Legislators and EU authorities must recognise that recovery and the recycling process transforms waste into a product.”
The issue of where material should be recycled is becoming more important in the UK with government policy promoting the proximity principle and organisations such as WRAP and the Remade projects favouring the use of material near to where it is generated rather than being exported. The issue surfaced at the recent Larac conference where recovered paper trader Philip Serfaty reminded the audience that recyclable materials are tradable commodities and have world markets.
Mr Veys told the audience yesterday that the proximity and self-sufficiency principles needed to apply only to waste for disposal and that a free trade in recyclable material is essential.
He spoke of two main types of recycling in the EU. “There is the traditional, ferrous and non ferrous, paper glass and textiles. The emerging materials are batteries, oil, construction and demolition, plastics, tyres and wood.”
Mr Veys noted that the traditional sectors have quality, market, prices, collection systems, sorting and specifications. “In contrast the emerging have very little in common with themselves and are at a relatively low level of development. Prices depend very much on circumstances but can often be negative. They may be positive for tyre castings and silver oxide batteries but zinc carbon batteries and end of life tyres can have no value.”
Among the many “hindrances” preventing the development of recycling, he included secondary material prices being linked to raw material prices, the growing quality requirements by users of recyclables, the waste stigma attached to recycling and the dollar. Mr Veys predicted that it will be “quite interesting” when the Euro is launched in that this may give extra strength to the trading of materials priced in Euros.
The way forward he said is for fiscal incentives as well as public relations programmes promoting recyclable materials, harmonised standards, increased landfill fees, new technology, free trade in non-hazardous materials for recycling and co-operation between the private and public sectors.
Register for free to comment