Metal offcuts- why a change in the law will aid recycling
23rd April 2008
This week in Parliament Labour MP for Southampton Test, Dr Alan Whitehead MP, has secured government support for a change in UK law relating to metal offcuts. Currently such offcuts are classed as waste, whereas they are in fact a valuable resource. As Dr Whitehead said in his Westminster Hall debate on the subject:
“They can literally just be gathered up and reused roughly in the way that one uses the pastry left from making mince pies to make more mince pies. I make mince pies and am familiar with the process.”
Joan Ruddock MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responded positively to Dr Whitehead’s points:
“It is obvious to all that off-cuts that are not polluted in any way remain the original resource, so we clearly ought not to classify them as waste. I can give my hon. Friend some good news. The Environment Agency will shortly publish guidance on when clean off-cuts can be reused without regulatory control. I am sure that that is what he wants; it is obviously common sense to do so.”
The wider context of Dr Whitehead’s debate was the reclassification of recycled metal in general as a resource. He praised the British metal recycling industry, which is one of the UK’s most important export industries. It faces major obstacles due to the classification of its product as waste under EU law. In his speech Dr Whitehead highlighted the financial and environmental benefits of metal recycling:
“By recovering and reprocessing metals, we can supply pretty much all that we need for remaking metal products with no real deterioration in the quality of the material. That means that the energy that we use in the process—and hence carbon emissions—is hugely reduced in comparison with that resulting from the use of virgin material. For example, about 75 per cent. less energy is used in making something out of recycled steel than in making the same thing out of virgin materials.
He went on to say:
“Recycled metal is not just shipped out and dumped, but goes as a high-quality raw material to markets all over the world. Stringent EU regulations are in place— in general, rightly so—to ensure that waste is not dumped in receiving countries. It is perhaps not surprising that under such circumstances, British exports of clean metal resources should be rejected in favour of sourcing from other countries in which specified quality recycled metals are not classified as waste.”
Dr Whitehead urged the government to lobby the European Parliament to adopt the revised EU Waste Framework Directive, which is currently on its 2nd Reading and which would reclassify recycled metal. Again the Minister showed her support for Dr Whitehead’s proposals and promised Government support for the Directive.
Speaking after the debate Dr Whitehead added:
“I am delighted with the Minister’s response to my debate. I welcome her commitment to the revised EU Waste Framework Directive. The Environment Agency protocol on metal offcuts she announced will have a hugely positive effect on this industry, which is of vital importance for the UK in meeting our EU targets on recycling and recovery, part of our wider fight to reduce carbon emissions.”
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More information
- The UK metal recycling industry recycles 2 million cars a year—more than any other EU country
- Of the 15 million tonnes of metals recovered in the UK each year, some 60 per cent. is currently exported
- If recycled, aluminium uses just 5 per cent. of the energy that would be needed to produce primary aluminium. This is equivalent to saving 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of aluminium produced. Recycling aluminium also reduces the use of chemicals, eliminates the need for 5 tonnes of bauxite ore to be mined and prevents the generation of nearly 2 tonnes of red mud as a by-product.
- For the full Hansard text of Dr Whitehead’s debate can be read here