The 2008 targets, which are especially critical because they are a benchmark year for the EU, were debated at a meeting last week between officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP).
After the meeting, a Defra spokeswoman said that no details of targets – which cover overall recovery and recycling – could be disclosed and an announcement would be made in the New Year.
Balance
However, it is fully expected that both officials and ministers are keen to ramp up overall recovery targets because they consider more packaging can be collected and they are also fearful that unless targets are increased, the whole packaging waste system could be at risk. While recycling minister Joan Ruddock has questioned the amount of packaging waste still in the waste stream, and Secretary of State Hilary Benn has pointed to the relatively low volumes of aluminium cans being recycled, ministers will have to balance what they want achieved with the market capacity to collect materials.
Officials are also aware that there should be a rise in targets because a collapse of the whole system could be triggered by the low value of packaging recovery notes – both the paper and plastics sector, and others have been critical of the low PRN values over 2007. With paper PRNs selling a month ago for £1-2, a number of merchants have questioned whether it is worth bothering to register. Should they not do so, compliance schemes could face a shortage of evidence and while this might force the price of PRNs up it could bring the whole system into doubt.
Other issues discussed at the meeting are thought to include the question of broadly equivalent, a term imposed by the Environment Agency to ensure that reprocessing overseas – such as at a paper mill in China – is carried out to an almost comparable UK standard. This is largely aimed at ensuring that the environment is protected, and for example, child labour is not used to sort UK materials overseas.
The Environment Agency is thought to be working on a new option for exporters which could see a form of common approval for mills and other reprocessors so that individual exporters would not each time have to gather broadly equivalent evidence.
Broadly equivalent
John Turner, chairman of the ACP, told letsrecycle.com that options on the broadly equivalent issue are being worked on. “We've been talking to them about the numbers on a number of issues related to targets and the problems on broadly equivalents. Broadly equivalent issue is quite difficult – everyone knows the metal exporters are finding it very difficult to cope with, there's a lot of metal going through traders and brokers who won't reveal where it goes, and loads can be split up, making it even more difficult to tell where it is going.
“We are trying to convince them [Defra] that they need to take a slightly pragmatic view on this to get the evidence. There's a lot of evidence around and the Environment Agency has made a number of approvals. One possibility would be for them to maintain that confidentiality of information themselves, or perhaps look at approving a destination.”
On targets, Mr Turner said that the numbers are being looked at: “There's some challenges particularly in aluminium. There are several proposals and the recovery target could be lifted to tighten the market to a better level. We're not privy to what they get from the responses to the consultation. Then there's the influence of the waste strategy they have got to take into account – all the issues to do with carbon footprint, and aluminium is very interesting from the carbon footprint point of view, so it's difficult to judge what the government will do.”
Metals
The British Metals Recycling Association has commented to Defra that the issue of “Broad equivalence” is greater for the UK than any other European country.
The association says that “this is because the UK's domestic demand for recycled metals is saturated. Of the 10 million tonnes of steel scrap produced annually in the UK, only 2.7 million tonnes is sold into the UK market. The remaining 7.3 million tonnes is exported, and 4 million tonnes of this is destined for non-EU countries. Therefore, the UK is dependant on the continued ability to export recycled metals.”
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