In 2008 under secretary for climate change, biodiversity and waste, Joan Ruddock MP, stated that the “benefits of metal recycling are considerable” adding “the industry is vital to our achieving our EU targets on packaging, on end-of-life vehicles, on batteries and on electrical and electronic equipment”; shortly afterwards Ed Miliband MP announced the Government's plans for a low carbon economy and introduced the Climate Change Bill, begging the question why is Defra pushing to change Environmental Permitting Exemptions when its proposals will reduce the nation's recycling infrastructure?
Ian Hetherington joined the BMRA as director general in April 2009. He previously worked as chief executive of Skills for Logistics, the sector skills council for businesses involved in planning, moving and handling goods – an industry worth £74 billion to the economy and employing over two million people.
Defra seems determined to remove the paragraph 45 exemptions that allow many well-established metal recyclers to operate on sites that have become surrounded by housing and developments thanks to creeping urbanisation.
If paragraph 45 exemptions go, some of these metal recyclers will be required to provide formal evidence of a permitted use and apply to local authorities for retrospective planning permission or a lawful development certificate. It is safe to say that some of these applications will be opposed and site owners will have to fund appeals.
BMRA estimates up to 300 metal recyclers could be forced into the planning system and potentially out of business, if Defra removes paragraph 45 exemptions. This would leave a gaping hole in the metals' collection system and substantially reduce the nation's recycling capabilities, just when we need to be investing in infrastructure.
The National Audit Office reported on Defra's management of the waste PFI programme in January 2009, advising that delays and uncertainties in planning are a major barrier to the progress of critical infrastructure projects.
Land that adheres to the principal of proximity to waste producers will have to be designated for recyclers if the UK is to increase the recycling of commercial and industrial wastes.
The government's economic and environmental ambitions cannot be fulfilled if recyclers planning concerns go unheeded. BMRA is calling on Defra to match the commitment shown by the departments of Energy and Climate Change and Business Innovation and Skills, and to support businesses that want to develop recycling capacity. A simple step it could take is to leave paragraph 45 exemptions in place.
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