Europe has reached its 60% recycling target for 2005, recycling over 2 million tonnes of steel packaging in 2002, according to a new report from APEAL, the association of European steel packaging producers.
This saved the use of about 3 million tonnes of iron ore and 1.4 million tonnes of coal, the report said.
The recycling of steel recycling surpasses all other packaging materials in Europe – the nearest material is glass at 57%, while paper is slightly lower at 52% and plastics a long way behind at 15%.
But while the European steel packaging recycling average of 60% 2002 is an 8% improvement on the 2001 level, the UK steel packaging sector has been attacked by pressure group Friends of the Earth for falling behind with a lower growth of 5% over that period.
The UK now recycles 42% of its steel packaging, some distance from countries like Belgium (93%) and Germany (79%) and even Spain and Ireland (both 51%).
FoE waste and resources campaigner Claire Wilton said: “We use far more than our fair share of the earth's precious resources. Every ton of steel we recycle avoids the need to extract 1.5 tonnes of iron ore and just under a tonne of coal. But recycling household rubbish is still more expensive than burning it or burying it. The government has to bring this perverse situation to an end by introducing higher taxes on landfill and incineration.”
Ban
Friends of the Earth called on the government to ban the landfilling and incineration of recyclable materials and provide an extra 100 million for local authorities to cope with such a ban. The group has launched a “Shout About Waste” week, in which it is working with secondary schools to promote recycling and raise awareness on waste issues.
Despite the pressure group's disappointment in the UK steel packaging recycling rate, experts in the steel recycling sector have pointed out that recycling levels in the UK have grown radically over the last five years.
Infrastructure
John May of Corus told letsrecycle.com that the problem when comparing UK performance to that of other European countries is that the collection infrastructure is not nearly as good.
Mr May said: “If you look at all the materials, steel packaging recycling has actually grown very well compared to the other materials, from 25% in 1998 to 42% now. But (the low rate compared to the rest of Europe) is not a material issue. The recycling of packaging is not an integral part of waste strategies in the UK – local authorities have targets for household waste, they don't have targets for packaging, so they don't need to collect packaging, they can collect garden waste or newspapers.
He added: “What we really need is an integrated waste strategy that includes all the materials the UK is obligated for.”
Dividends
Packaging waste recycling note funds are helping to improve collections in the UK, Mr May said, with efforts by companies like Corus “beginning to pay dividends”.
“We have always made a point of putting money back into recycling and being open about how we do this, and this has produced demonstrable results.”
According to the APEAL report, although steel packaging recycling has tripled in Europe over the last ten years, the current high rates meant growth in future years would be limited.
The report said: “The recycling rates for steel packaging are likely to level off in the next few years, given the very high rates already reached in most European countries. Limitations to growth in the recycling of steel packaging are essentially linked to the lack of collection infrastructure whilst recycling outlets are guaranteed since recycled steel is an essential ingredient in the production of new steel products.”
For a copy of the APEAL report, click here.
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