Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the British Metals Recycling Association (Waste 38a)
INTRODUCTION
The issues that we cover below are crucial to
the future success of the UK metal recycling industry. These all
relate to, yet are not covered by, the Waste Strategy for England
2007. In fact, notwithstanding that the Strategy introduces a
new focus on materials and products, there is no reference to
a strategy for metals other than to seeking to increase the reclamation
of aluminium from household waste.
However, with large volumes of metal still being
sent to landfill, and EU recovery and recycling targets, and the
level of regulation imposed on the metal recycling industry, both
continuing to increase, more must be done by the Government to
help maximise the contribution made by the metal recycling industry.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
ISSUES & CLASSIFICATION
OF WASTE
(PARA 6-7, 13-20, 34-38)
A revised Waste Framework Directive was approved
at second reading by the European Parliament on 17 June and is
expected to be endorsed by the European Council on 20 October.
This would allow a new Directive to become law before the end
of 2008.
BMRA is pleased that the text agreed by the European
Parliament specifies a waste hierarchy giving due priority to
recycling, provides clear definitions of recycling and recovery,
and recommends that comitology (with scrutiny) be used to determine
the criteria for reclassifying waste as non-waste. The text further
states that fully recovered metal should be among the first materials
considered for reclassification once the criteria have been developed.
The comitology process will be informed by detailed
work undertaken over the past two years by one of the European
Commission's research bodies, the Institute for Prospective Technological
Studies (IPTS), into the possible criteria for determining non-waste
status for recovered metal and other "wastes". The IPTS
report, which has been widely consulted upon and which will be
published imminently, should help achieve an early reclassification
for recovered metal.
We are grateful for the support received from
Defra officials and UK MEPs in achieving this position. It is
now incumbent on the Government to ensure that the remaining steps
in achieving reclassification are taken as quickly and smoothly
as possible, thereby allowing recovered metal to no longer be
considered waste for the purposes of the recovery and recycling
targets imposed under EU producer responsibility legislation,
and releasing it from the shipment controls that are severely
restricting the ability of the UK metal recycling industry to
engage in legitimate international trade.
OFF-CUTS
(PARA 39)
BMRA is pleased that the Environment Agency
has recently issued guidance that clean metal off-cuts, such as
factory arisings that result from metal manufacturing processes,
can be considered by-product and not waste. The implication is
that they can be reused without regulatory control, in line with
guidance issued by the Commission in February 2007.
However, the issue remains under discussion with
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency—we believe it
fundamental that the ruling be applied throughout the UK if Scottish
metal recyclers are not to be placed at a commercial disadvantage.
PACKAGING (PARA
39)
The Packaging Directive stipulates that packaging
waste exported outside the EU can only count towards a member
state's targets if there is sound evidence that recovery and recycling
took place under environmental conditions broadly equivalent to
those in the EU.
In response to the difficulties experienced by metal
exporters in obtaining the necessary paperwork to prove broadly
equivalent overseas processing, the Government approved amended
regulations in July 2008 to ease the requirement on metal exporters
to provide evidence and to grant the Environment Agency greater
discretion in determining what constitutes sound evidence.
The amended regulations will help ensure that
the UK does not fail in meeting its targets for the recycling
of metal packaging by being unable to show that the recovery and
recycling of metal has taken place.
REGULATION: ENVIRONMENTAL
PERMITTING PROGRAMME
& SECTOR SPECIFIC
GUIDANCE (PARA
3, 4, 22) AND THE
REVIEW OF
EXEMPTIONS (PARA
7, 23)
A survey conducted by the BMRA among its members
in May/June 2008 found that an average large metal recycler faces
15-18 different strands of environmental regulation, whilst an
average small, family-owned company must comply with at least
12. The consequence is that each weighbridge transaction lasts
an average of five minutes—two minutes for the commercial
transaction and three minutes for paperwork—a process that
the average metal recycling site must repeat 300-400 times daily.
The Environmental Permitting Programme (EPP) introduced
in April 2008, rather than alleviating the regulatory burden,
will impose further costs on the industry. For example, metal
recycling site managers will become obliged to obtain certificates
of technical competence whilst the current design of standard
permits, with limited provision for the acceptance of hazardous
wastes and low tonnage limits, means that many recyclers will
be forced to apply for bespoke licenses.
In addition, a consultation paper published
in July 2008 on the review of exemptions proposes that the tonnage
threshold to qualify for exemptions under "paragraph 45"
be significantly reduced, meaning that around 100 BMRA members
would no longer be able to benefit from a less onerous licensing
system and be forced to apply for standard or bespoke licenses.
BMRA believes that there exists no substantive
environmental evidence, both within the EPP and the review of
exemptions, to justify changing provisions that have worked well
for many years. In fact, whilst there have been 42 government
consultations over the past two years relating to changes in UK
and EU regulations that have required review and response by the
metal recycling industry, not a single one has concerned the level
of regulation imposed on the industry.
We would welcome such a review—streamlined
paperwork and sector-specific guidance would reduce the regulatory
burden on the industry and boost metal recycling in the UK.
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA)
August 2008
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