Exports are also closed-loop recycling

I read with dismay recent reports of yet another politician trying to play the green card to obtain a few votes.

Mary Creagh, the Labour Party Shadow Environment Minister has recently stated she would disincentivise recovered material exports by reforming the PRN system. Most people who are actually in the recycled commodity business know what non-recyclable rubbish this latest statement is; no doubt she has listened to a few self-interested individuals and groups who have been pushing their agenda, presumably with only their own profit and gains in mind.

Europe, USA and the UK are all in the same position, we all have a surplus of recyclate. This recyclate has to be exported because UK PLC buys and imports huge quantities of manufactured goods from foreign countries. After these products and packaging are discarded, UK recycling businesses have their pick and the surplus is exported to manufacturing nations who recycle into products and packaging to send back to Western nations for us to consume, the cycle then continues. As much as is the case from using material again in the UK, the use of materials in the export market is true closed-loop recycling that also benefits from utilising containers which are being returned to their origin empty to be filled up yet again with goods that we can buy in our stores. Surely people who want to manage the country understand this, dont they?!

Foreign companies who buy recyclables from Western nations, including the UK, are hugely disadvantaged in cost terms: they generally pay a higher price for the commodity, then pay increasingly large transport costs.

Therefore, the cost delivered to a foreign recycler is far in excess of what a UK recycler pays, so why all the bleating about an unfair playing field with PERNs (export packaging waste recovery notes) – the PERN is a small fraction of the total cost.

Barriers

The current PERN system is by no means perfect but if you want a level playing field it would be better to scrap the PRN system than create trade barriers to help the few in the short term.

Illegal waste concerns are also raised a reason to stop exports. In reality this represents a really minor percentage of both domestic and export business – can anyone really quote true facts to assess the size of this problem? Is it really such a problem and not just another dramatic headline?

Asia does and will stop dirty plastic waste being imported and not stop plastic imports altogether. The paper industry has also suffered a clampdown on sub-standard material being imported into China – it is likely that China has actually done more to restrict illegal exports and improve the quality of material than our own Government Agencies. However as Asia has such a huge imbalance in trade with the West there will be a need to import recyclate, better quality is what they are after.

UK company

I suppose at this stage I had better confess that I work for a UK company which exports recyclables to China. Please note that our growth from a zero start to a 100 million turnover only took 4 years and contributes significantly to the UK balance of payments. We created jobs here in the UK and help maintain a healthy price for recyclable material which has doubtlessly helped contribute to continued collection and reduced landfill. I suppose this has done more for the recycling industry than tinkering with the PRN system will do.

I would be really curious to know how giving an advantage to UK companies would help the UK. The initial consequence would be that more of a surplus would be created and recyclate prices would fall. We know from experience a fall in collection would soon follow along with an increase in landfill, European waste targets would not be met and the UK would be fined buy Europe for failing, then PRN prices.

Good for those self-interested ones whispering in Mary Creaghs ear, but the rest of us would pick up the tab in higher retail prices as the extra PRN costs will be passed down to the chain. Recyclable material that isnt landfilled would then be exported to Europe you cant stop exports to Europe where it would be loaded onto containers and sent to Asian countries for recycling. In this way, the great idea to disincentivise recovered material exports by reforming the PRN system, has done the opposite of what is intended.

Advantage

I am a proud Englishman and would really like to give any UK-based business any unashamed advantage against any other nation in the world. However politicians trying to make headlines with cheap statements which, if they do come to fruition, will only damage UK industry are not needed. I would ask them to research the topic and come up with policies of substance rather than sound bites.

If we want to use more recyclate in the UK we need to manufacture goods and not just consume. During the Labour Partys term in office, manufacturing declined at a faster rate than any other government in power. The Conservatives promised great things to help manufacturing and manufacturing is growing but I suspect this is despite government not because of it, and the banks still dont get it!

I really doubt that manufacturing will ever be again a major part of UK business activity – we are too embroiled in red tape, government and local authority hoops to compete effectively in the world. In this situation we should then embrace exports and value of the contribution they make to this countries balance of payments.