Examination of Witnesses (Question Numbers
217-219)
MS LINDSAY
MILLINGTON AND
MR GRAEME
CARUS
12 NOVEMBER 2008
Q217 Chairman: May I thank those representing
the British Metals Recycling Association for their patience during
the divisions of the House. I welcome Lindsay Millington, Director
General of the British Metals Recycling Association, and Graeme
Carus, Director of Business Development, European Metal Recycling
Ltd. Thank you for your written evidence. One of the things that
is surfacing now under the current economic downturn is a reduction
in the price of recyclable materials. As far as metal is concerned,
is that the issue for you?
Ms Millington: It is certainly
an issue at present. I refer to the international BIR conference
that happened two weeks ago. The reports there were that the industry
was bouncing along the bottom and that trade conditions were probably
worse than anybody had previously seen. Perhaps one of the advantages
of being metal recyclers is that we work in an industry that does
deal with commodity markets and we are an industry that is very
used to markets that are inherently volatile. We are already seeing
some signs of consumers coming back into the market and medium
to long term the prospects will be good. Metal ultimately is a
recyclable material; it has always been recycled, in a market
going way back to the Industrial Revolution. Because all scrap
metal can be melted down and turned into new metal, and because
that metal is needed for industrialised and industrialising nations,
there will be a market and it will return. I think the whole of
the industry is confident in that. One issue at present is that
we have quite large quantities waiting in stock in yards but it
is still being kept in stock in the yards, waiting for the market
to pick up.
Q218 Chairman: One of the issues
that you might like to expand on is the fact that you have just
made it very clear that recycled metal is a valuable raw material,
which can be re-used many times, and therefore it does draw into
question whether it should be described as a waste or not. Does
the Waste Strategy help you out of that dilemma?
Ms Millington: Not the Waste Strategy
in itself; I think European policy as it is moving forward does.
Perhaps I should say, first, that we would entirely agree with
you that once metal is fully processed, it does have a market;
it is a valuable secondary raw material and it should not be described
as waste. If I can come back to our general comments on the Waste
Strategy, we found that the Waste Strategy lacks a consideration
of the need for a strategy for metals in a number of ways. As
European policy through the Waste Framework Directive creates
the opportunity for a re-definition of our product as product
and not waste, we should like to see some more overt support from
the UK Government in pushing that re-definition forward.
Q219 Chairman: One point you make
in paragraph 7 of your evidence is: "Developing a new metals
strategy and introducing sector specific guidance for the metals
recycling industry ..."[2]
Who should do that?
Ms Millington: I think it is a
matter of industry and government working together. If I can talk
about why we have asked for the sector-specific guidance: metal
recycling is an industry and not just an established commodity
market, but the European targets for recycling products, such
as cars, WEEE, packaging, batteries, will not be met without the
metal recycling industry. One of the effects of those two things
is that since the mid-1990s we have had a steady stream of more
and more regulation coming into what was already a pre-established
industry. We now have around about 20 different strands of environmental
regulation—I have a list of them here—that affect
our sites. Even the very smallest family run sites are dealing
with about 12 different strands of regulation. We have had something
like 10 major regulatory changes in the last four years with the
introduction of things like: End-of-Life Vehicle Regulations,
Hazardous Waste Regulations, licensing of dock sites, WEEE, Transfrontier
Shipment Regulations, et cetera, and I could go on. As an industry
we have dealt—and I counted them up for another meeting
recently—with something over 40 consultation papers on changes
in regulation in the last two years. None of those related to
the specific needs of metal recycling. What we need is an industry/government
discussion about how the necessary regulation can be properly
implemented in a commodity industry that is necessary to the UK
to meet its targets. Out of that should come the sector-specific
guidance that hopefully would both provide a streamlined administrative
system for the industry and make it more straightforward for the
regulator to direct its efforts where the risks are higher or
where people are evading regulation.
2 Ev 84. Back
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