National Waste Policy Needed to Secure Resources for Manufacturing

12 January 2012

Following a recent survey, UK manufacturers association, EEF, has called for a more radical approach to waste from the government to tackle a looming resource crunch.

According to the EEF, in the face of out of date legislation, limited access to waste facilities and looming resource crunch, Britain requires a far more ambitious approach to the management of waste.

EEF said that the most striking result of its survey of senior manufacturing leaders was that 80% now regard a shortage of raw materials as a risk to their business. Of these, two thirds said it was their top risk. In addition, 1 in 6 companies said that a shortage of raw materials is now a brake on growth.

The organisation has called for a new approach to legislation, which it claimed is unnecessarily complex, confusing and based on out of date assumptions. For example, it still assumes waste will be sent to landfill, even though less than a quarter of waste from manufacturing is disposed this way.

In addition, EEF said that all companies should have access to local authority recycling facilities, regardless of where they are based.

According to EEF, the government should work with industry to develop a resource strategy that will enable materials, particularly those in scare supply, to be re-used and to speed up their movement across the economy.

"Government policy has gone some way towards recognising these risks but to date it has not gone far enough. We now need a more ambitious approach which involves a resource strategy for the UK, simplified legislation and an improved infrastructure involving better access to local authority recycling," explained Gareth Stace, EEF head of climate & environment.

EEF said that would make it easier for companies to make the most out of the waste they and others produce and reduce our dependence on imports.

Furthermore, the organisation said that its analysis shows that as well as leading to significant competitive opportunities for manufacturers in resource efficiency, such a strategy would reduce the amount of waste the UK exports. A resource strategy could ensure more of these resources are captured for domestic use.

Rebalancing waste legislation is needed which views waste as a resource to be re-used where possible and not disposed as a first option, said EEF.

Currently a lack of convenient and affordable recycling facilities is a major barrier to business waste recycling and EEF said that it has set out a number of recommendations to address this.

In particular, while government recently published the Business Recycling and Waste Services Commitment, which sets out the principles of how local authorities can help make it easier for businesses to recycle, it is voluntary. EEF called for this commitment to be part of national policy aimed at firms of all.


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