Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop Recycling, discusses his views on theplastics recycling market.
More and more consumers are doing their bit for recycling and whilst most local authorities now collect plastic bottles at the kerbside, some waste companies are still sending huge volumes of plastic waste abroad rather than having it processed here in the UK, due to the incentives they receive via the governments PRN credit system. If this material stayed in the UK, it would reduce our imports of virgin raw materials and would create sorting and reprocessing jobs in the UK. Recent reports have suggested more than 50,000 new UK recycling jobs would be created if 70% of waste collected by councils was recycled here in the UK.
In fact, the issue is something that I and my industry colleagues are raising across the board with different policy makers. I asked the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, at the CIWM conference in July whether the PERN system would be changed to discourage the export of UK recovered material abroad. She responded that the Government was committed to exploring options.
Were not asking the government to stop waste exports altogether or depart from free trade, we are merely asking for a level playing field by reviewing the existing system which currently favours export of materials rather than domestic recycling as well as enforcing the rules around the export of waste. If this was supported with frequent and stringent inspections, input materials would be more readily available for UK re-processors. In the case of Closed Loop Recycling, we could execute our expansion plan more quickly, thus creating green jobs in London and keeping valuable raw materials in the UK.
Issues
Effectively, the issue is an interface between economics and the environment. If our used plastic packaging stayed in UK, it would reduce our imports of virgin raw materials and would create sorting and reprocessing jobs in UK. You’d think that this would have universal appeal – lower unemployment and improved balance of payments.
For example, it seems absurd that the PRN system provides a higher payment for exports than it does for domestically processed materials. Abottle exporter can claim a PERN on the bottles and the contamination in a bale whilst as a reprocessor I can only claim a PRN on the bottle content. Surely it is time to review and repair this outdated compliance system to ensure we have a level playing field and a genuine producer contribution to the reprocessing of British packaging. This was not an intended consequence of the system when the rule book was written, but a result of the legislators, and all of us, learning about the detailed operations of the industry they were regulating.
We will continue to raise this issue, not simply for our own benefit but also for the wider industry which I know shares our views. We are hoping to gain wider support and go beyond the usual industry channels to raise it at Treasury and business level. If you are interested in commenting or working with us, please email me at chris.dow@closedlooprecyling.co.uk.
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