Minister urges SMEs to work together on recycling

At a briefing hosted by the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group (APSRG) in Westminster yesterday (November 30), the minister said that businesses working in close proximity, for example on industrial estates, may benefit from economies of scale with regards to waste contracts.

There is a potential for large industrial estates where there are businesses together to make an arrangement for the whole site to have the waste and recycling collected, he said.

Some SMEs find it hard to access affordable recycling services because they do not create large quantities of waste. The problem is compounded by the fact that many councils do not offer recycling collections for small businesses.

Mr Taylor explained that the government was tackling this issue through the launch last month of the Local Authority Business Recycling and Waste Collection Commitment (see letsrecycle.com story), under which councils can pledge to offer more recycling services to SMEs.

He said this had been made easier for councils to do as the government is set to abolish the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) at the end of the 2012/13 scheme year. The scheme has in the past deterred many councils from providing trade waste services to businesses for fear that they might fall short of landfill allowances.

Lord Taylor said: We have listened to SMEs about the barriers they face regarding good recycling services. We have taken decisive action. We have, for example, abolished the landfill allowance which is one of the greatest barriers in the SME market.

FSB

Lord Taylors views were supported by David Caro, environment committee chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses, who also spoke at the event. He claimed that SMEs need to participate in tackling the barriers to recycling and not leave everything up to local authorities.

Mr Caro stated that SMEs need to find suitable ways to sort and gather their waste on site making it easier for councils to collect them more efficiently. However the organisation will still need a sufficient amount of space to be able to do this effectively, he said.

He also suggested that larger businesses, such as supermarkets and department stores, which are situated in city centres, should help SMEs as part of their social responsibility. For example, he suggested they could help small businesses which did not have the space to store waste and recycling, or allow SMEs to have their recycling collected as part of the larger companys existing recycling contract.

He said: We would like to see them [larger businesses] use their social responsibility and open up their facilities to SMEs.