Referring to talks at a European level over the tightening of packaging waste recovery targets (see letsrecycle.com story), Mr Meacher said: “Those packaging waste targets have got to increase – and will increase – we know they will have to get up to 60 to 65% over the next three years.”
 Environment minister Michael Meacher (right) with Project Integra chairman Richard Williams today |
The minister said today that more had to be done to source material from the household waste stream, saying: “We will have to look into incentivising recycling and definitely need to see more kerbside collections.”
The environment minister was visiting members of Hampshire's Project Integra waste management partnership, shortly before opening a new glass reprocessing plant in Southampton.
The minister revealed that he is particularly concerned about the state of glass packaging waste recovery in the UK.
He said: “It is likely that future targets for glass packaging waste will rise quite sharply, and for every other material. Nothing has been decided yet, but the level of glass under discussion is 60% by 2007 or 2008 – and do you know what the level of glass packaging recycling is at the moment? I'll tell you: 34%.”
The minister is known to be concerned that his decision to keep packaging waste recovery targets the same in 2003 as they were in 2004 is not allowing UK capacity to grow. The 2003 target has partly led to the drop in packaging waste recovery note (PRN) values over the last few months, which is limiting investment in reprocessing facilities.
Aggregates
Tim Gent, director of Midland Glass, whose new plant Michael Meacher was opening, told letsrecycle.com that with PRN values as low as they are, the company is reluctant to send packaging glass to the aggregates industry.
He explained: “We can't sell green glass to the remelting industry, so it has to go into aggregates. But selling glass to the remelting industry, the value we get is 90% from the glass and just 10% from the PRNs. In aggregates, the value we get is almost entirely from the PRNs, so unless the price of PRNs goes up, we are reluctant to see our glass going into aggregates.”
He added: “As soon as the PRN price rises, we can divert it into aggregates – it has to be subsidised through something.”
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