Published by environmental charity the Green Alliance, the task forces first report, Resource resilient UK, states that the governments industrial strategy does not currently take resource risks seriously enough in order to build a viable manufacturing economy for the future, which would create new business opportunities and create jobs.
Shortages of materials such as oil, copper and aluminium come as a result of rising extraction costs, limitations on land availability and environmental problems such as water scarcity, but the report states that reuse and recycling can help address these issues.
However, it argues that while there is a desire among UK businesses to increase recycling and reuse in order to mitigate a scarcity of resources, more help is needed from the government as well as greater collaborative working between businesses.
As a result, the Task Force report calls for the following to encourage companies to secure resources for more reuse and recycling approaches:
- a government-led study into the UKs exposure to material insecurity, starting with sectors most able to contribute to growth
- government to strengthen individual producer responsibility
- European Commission to clarify competition law to reinforce exemptions for environmentally beneficial co-ordination between businesses.
- greater collaboration and commitment from businesses to use long term contracts and joint ventures to speed up recovery of materials and products.
- direct government intervention in product design to make products easier to reuse, recycle and remanufacture.
The Task Force also sets out its support in the report for minimum reuse and recycling targets; reuse standards such as PAS 141; and for collection standards and guidance to be developed to maximise reusability.
‘companies in the UK want and need to avoid resource security risks. Theres a lot that businesses can do on their own, but the government needs to help’
Dustin Benton, report author
And, in order to boost the quality of recyclable material, the report states that material recycling facility (MRF) Code of Practice regulations should require operators to sample the materials they send on to reprocessors and report on contamination rates.
Author of the report, Dustin Benton, said: Our analysis shows that companies in the UK want and need to avoid resource security risks. Theres a lot that businesses can do on their own, but the government needs to help. The governments industrial strategy should quantify resource security risks for different business sectors. It also needs to actively broker co-operation across supply chains to get materials back, and push businesses to redesign their products to make them easier to recover.
Step-change
Set up through the UKs Resource Security Action Plan sponsored by Defra and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Circular Economy Task Force is composed of businesses and organisations such as Boots, Veolia, Viridor, and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Dan Cooke, director of external affairs for Viridor, welcomed the report, stating that while going green stacks up for British business the UK economy has too often taken a fragmented approach to resource efficiency.
He said: Building a resource resilient UK and realising the prizes of sustainable business, resource security, employment and investment will require a real step-change in collaboration by government, industry and the public sector. It will require fresh thinking on encouraging infrastructure investment against a challenging economic outlook.
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