Repeat crash in material prices a very real risk

The note of caution from WRAP chief executive Liz Goodwin came today (September 13) as she spoke to RWM exhibition delegates in Birmingham about tackling the barriers to improving resource efficiency.

One of the biggest challenges, Dr Goodwin explained, was reconciling the need to reduce waste and recycle more while funding was cut and the economy was suffering.

This, she said, was for example making it very problematical to secure funding for some new anaerobic digestion facilities and could make it harder for local authorities to keep firmly focused on making it easy for people to recycle.

And, with regards to recyclate markets, she said that a repeat price crash like that seen in 2008 was a very real danger. At the time, prices for materials such as paper plummeted to around half their former value in a matter of weeks, while the price paid for steel cans fell to zero (see letsrecycle.com story).

She said: The current economic uncertainty may also feed into volatility in the recyclate markets.

“Many of you will recall the challenges we all faced last time there was a crash in prices for recycled materials. We all know that when the economy is under pressure this is a very real risk – but if there should be a repeat performance, WRAP will be here to provide support and market intelligence, which you told us was helpful last time round.

Textiles

On a more positive note, Dr Goodwin used her speech to explain that “an important emerging priority for us is the textiles sector”, pointing to the fact that half of clothes bought in the UK end up in landfill. Textiles was one of the priority material streams identified in June as part of WRAPs new 2011-15 business plan (see letsrecycle.com story). Reuse, she explained, was also an area which needed more attention.

And, on the subject of energy-from-waste, which is a recent addition to WRAPs remit, Dr Goodwin said that WRAP would be looking for industry partners to run a series of small-scale trials to demonstrate the more efficient technologies and make best use of the recovered energy. Similar trials will also be run to look at the opportunities to replace fossil fuels with waste-derived fuels.

She said: There has been some confusion surrounding what WRAP can and cant offer in this [energy-from-waste] areas, so let me emphasise that our role is to help you understand the different technologies available and the fuels for those technologies.

Voluntary

Elsewhere, Dr Goodwin said she was very proud of what voluntary agreements facilitated by WRAP had delivered. For instance the Courtauld Commitment grocery sector agreement already has 53 signatories in its second phase, with Ocado, Carlsberg UK, Nestle Waters UK, PLB Group and Typhoo the latest to sign up.

And, Dr Goodwin used her speech to announce that the signatories to a DIY sector voluntary agreement entitled the WRAP Home Improvement Sector Commitment had already reduced the amount of waste they send to landfill by 64% against a 50% target thereby exceeding their goal. The signatories together comprise almost half of the UK home improvement retail sales market.

She said: The achievements in this sector are not inconsiderable, given that market conditions within the home improvement sector remain challenging.