Where does your recycling go?
Ever wondered where your recycling ends up? Giles Crosse investigates
We are increasingly a nation of recyclers. In 2006, the British public dutifully separated more than eight million tonnes of waste paper into its recycling bins. This may still lag behind some of our northern European neighbours, but we now recycle ten times more paper than we did in 1990.
So what actually happens to our recycling after it has been collected? In 2006, 50 per cent of our paper recycling was exported abroad for reprocessing, with three quarters of it bound for China. But why are we sending our recycling overseas?
China needs our waste
Booming expansion in China is still driving the global movement of waste. China holds 20 per cent of the world’s population, but only four per cent of the planet’s forests. This means that paper for manufacturing magazines, and oil for the plastics in TVs are scarce. Many experts believe China needs our waste to maintain economic growth.
There are other factors too – lower labour costs and weaker environmental regulation makes buying UK waste profitable for Chinese recycling companies. Environmental legislation, such as the Climate Change Levy, doesn’t yet have much impact in China, which mean UK firms find it hard to compete financially.
Peter Jones, from Biffa Waste Services, says exporting makes economic sense: “Recycling is driven by economics.” The argument goes that it is better to send plastics to China to be recycled than to landfill it in the UK. International markets have an important part to play in providing sustainable and environmentally sound outlets for recovered materials.
“Ships are going to China anyway: a hull full of plastics makes little difference to their fuel load. Today’s world is a global economy,” says Jones.
Exaggerated rumours?
So, recycling in China is happening, but is it being done properly? According to some industry figures, rumours of child labour in Guangdong or rivers of dumped plastic in Zhejiang are vastly exaggerated.
“Our office in China tracks the plastic and paper to the final reprocessors,” says Mike Jefferson, from UK recycling company, Valpak. “We have a responsible exporter policy, which details what we expect from our partners overseas. For example, we check the minimum age of workers and that they are licensed for the activity they carry out.”
Brian Perry, at Perry’s Recycling, went on his own fact-finding mission. “The paper mills I saw are far in advance of those we operate here,” he says. “I’ve seen facilities in the Huitai group of paper mills where staff have access to swimming pools and ballroom dancing. I didn’t visit older mills, but I saw half a dozen of the new ones operating to these kinds of standards.”
Taking responsibility
But it’s not just down to the Chinese to check up on standards. The Environmental Protection Act requires every UK council to check where your recycling ends up – you are legally allowed to see this information.
Other UK laws require written evidence proving that recycling is carried out correctly. There are even stricter laws for landfill waste. It is illegal to ship waste outside the UK other than for recycling and recovery.
Photo: picturenation
Homegrown recycling
According to industry experts, there are several reasons to encourage homegrown recycling. “The Chinese are undergoing rapid expansion, so soon they could create internal waste plastics supplies, leaving us with plastics we can’t reprocess into new goods,” explains Professor Chris Coggins, from WAMTECH (Waste and Management Technology). Chinese municipalities currently generate about 190 million tonnes of waste per year.
Homegrown recycling could be beneficial for the environment too. There haven’t been any detailed studies of the environmental costs of shipping plastic overseas but there is obvious cause for concern. Research from Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap) shows that glass recycling within the UK is less polluting than exporting to China.
More work like this could reveal the ultimate climate costs of sending waste overseas. Until then, perhaps the best environmental and economic solution would involve ‘upcycling’: taking waste and transforming it into something of greater use and value.
Recycling at home
Happily, profitable UK recycling businesses like ECT, and Monmouthshire Community Recycling already exist, proving success is possible. “ECT paper and glass collections all stay in the UK for recycling,” says chief executive, Stephen Sears. The business provides recycling services in London, the West Country and the West Midlands.
ECT also provides community transport and is committed to building a network of economically sustainable enterprises dedicated to environmental and social objectives. It is the largest not-for-profit waste organisation in the UK and was established for the benefit of the community.
Environmental groups want to see much more of this locally based recycling. They argue that it’s unfair to expect poorer countries to pay the environmental cost for our waste. If we learn how to recycle waste here, they say, we can stop exporting the problem to China and other developing countries.
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