The report independently assessed the potential capacity gap with analysis also of six other reports on the topic. It put forward five scenarios for the gap in waste treatment infrastructure in 2030 which are dependent on the recycling rate (see letsrecycle.com story).
“Uniformity”
In response to the publication, Suez said at a national level, the Tolvik report demonstrates that there is “uniformity” between the individual capacity forecasts made by each of the major industrial players in the sector.
And, the company said the review clearly shows “that the UK has, and will continue to have a capacity gap for the treatment of residual waste by means other than landfill”.
Suez has reiterated the ESA’s plea for clear ambition and long-term policy direction from Government to determine where future investment should occur in terms of both technology and geography.
“All models in the research recognise the current importance of exports of residual, recycling and hazardous wastes to Europe and the need for time to transition to domestic treatment solutions,” Suez said. “RDF exports are expected to continue in all the models, with variance only occurring in the scale of export.”
Recycling
Stuart Hayward-Higham, author of Suez report ‘Mind the Gap 2017-2013’ and technical development director at Suez recycling and recovery UK, said: “If, as a nation, we are to set out an ambition to reach a high level of recycling (beyond 60%) – investing in the recycling value stream rather than EfW – this will require much wider-reaching policy which seeks to facilitate new domestic markets for recycled products and influence the whole product and packaging lifecycle –from design through consumption, collection, reprocessing and manufacturing.
“The capacity gap will become a capacity crisis if we eschew EfW in favour of high-reaching recycling targets without robust policy action (and associated investment) to back it up.”
Stuart Hayward-Higham
Suez
“The capacity gap will become a capacity crisis if we eschew EfW in favour of high-reaching recycling targets without robust policy action (and associated investment) to back it up.”
Regional
However, Mr Hayward-Higham said the company believes this value stream approach needs to be considered at a regional level, which may result in different outputs for different regions dependent on the region’s role within the circular economy.
“Our own analysis has been more granular than most, looking at the regional dimension to infrastructure need and delivery. We need to ensure we have the right technology in the right place at the right time,” explained Mr Hayward-Higham.
Policy
In its response today, Suez said it believes that adopting policies which support the principle of extended producer responsibility is one of the ways to strengthen markets for secondary raw material.
The company has called on DEFRA, in its forthcoming Waste & Resources Strategy, to tackle this issue head on and provide the policy clarity we all need and to redefine, to an extent, how waste services and infrastructure are delivered in the longer term to maximise materials values.
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