Alan Wheeler, director of the association, has warned HWRC operators, local authorities and charities that they “must understand that they may not get any income at all through banks and a gate fee could be introduced”.
Mr Wheeler said that other European countries have already introduced a collection fee, “with merchants pulling only high value reuse grades and being offered low rates to divert recycling grades to energy from waste incineration”.
Export
The main reason for this, according to Mr Wheeler, is that the export markets which the textile recycling market heavily relies on has been heavily affected by lockdown restrictions.
“During the Covid 19 outbreak our markets for used clothing have closed either through direct banning of imports, through lockdown measures imposed in recipient countries or through other extraneous reasons,” Mr Wheeler says.
The African market is one of the biggest, and Kenya announced earlier this year that it would ban the import of used clothing because of the risk of Covid-19 transmission, and Mr Wheeler says in Ghana payments “are not forthcoming because importers are not able to sell their goods on”.
The impact of the fall in value of oil has also been felt by textile recyclers, as it as contributed to weakened currencies in some African countries.
“During the Covid 19 outbreak our markets for used clothing have closed”
“This not only has an effect on the ability of people to afford but also pay for clothing in Ghana and elsewhere, in also liquidity in the currency market has had a tremendous effect on members of the Textile Recycling Association,” Alan Wheeler said.
Pakistan
Pakistan is the single largest importer of UK textiles, and Mr Wheeler says that just before the Covid 19 outbreak became a pandemic, the Pakistani authorities “were compelled to impose a much tighter inspection regime on imports purporting to be of used clothing which created a big back log”.
Mr Wheeler has warned that unless the export markets are open UK merchants may well have to cease collection operations simply due to the volumes collected and lack of storage facility.
Concerns
Textile recyclers have been one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic, and concerns were raised in yesterday’s letsrecycle.com webinar on waste and recycling during the coronavirus pandemic. Contributors from Chris Carey’s Collections and Savanna Rags both highlighted the difficulties the sector is facing.
In response, David Read, who is leading Covid-19 response at Defra and was on the panel for the webinar, said the department was “aware of the difficulties facing the sector” and liaising with the Textile Recycling Association.
Full report
Alan Wheeler’s full report on the global market can be read HERE.
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