CPI warns of quality risk for waste paper exporters

In its annual review for 2012/13, the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), said that the UK could become squeezed out of overseas markets unless quality improves.

The organisation highlighted Operation Green Fence – the drive by the Chinese authorities to reduce the amount of poor quality waste material being imported from overseas – as a sign that the UK must maintain a long term focus on quality, adding that it was high time that the UKs material quality bullet was bitten.

According to the CPI the UK is currently heavily reliant on exports of paper and board for recycling, with 55% of total UK collections processed overseas, 70% of which is sent to China. The group added that it is keeping a close eye on export activity throughout 2013.

Quality

To address the quality issue, the CPI, which represents recovered paper merchants, paper and board manufacturers, corrugated packaging producers and makers of soft tissue papers, has called for a national strategy to engage householders.

It said: CPI believes that a national strategy needs to be developed which puts quality at its heart. We also need to engage householders, commercial organisations, local authorities and the waste management industry in promoting a circular economy, the benefits of which include: reduced resource price volatility, lower supply chain risks, potential employment benefits and reduced pressure from external drivers. Common drivers based on material streams would be a good start.

Meanwhile, the group has also raised concerns that the MRF Code of Practice, which will require MRF operators to measure the quality of inputs and outputs from their facilities, will not sufficiently address the governments objective to produce high quality recycling through commingled collections and MRF sorting, and says it will lobby government to strengthen the regulations.

The review also highlights the organisations concerns over the risk of availability of quality recyclate as the capacity of energy-from-waste incinerators in the UK grows, adding that there is a genuine risk that residual treatment over-capacity could act as a disincentive to increasing recycling rates.

But, the review does stress that the UK has met the Europe-wide paper recycling target to recycle 70% of waste paper by 2015, with a 3% increase in the paper recycling rate achieved in 2012 from the previous year.