Archived News
Scrapbook
29th November 2011
BMRA Scrapbook is published on an occasional basis with news from the world of metals recycling. Click on the links below to download web-quality copies:
IDENTITY THEFT WARNING
18th October 2011
We continue to receive reports from members of their companies' identity being "cloned" by fraudsters seeking to obtain money for non-existent material. Examples have been found on www.hiwtc.com and www.alibaba.com. Potential buyers are strongly advised to check advertisers carefully before entering into business, and to use the contact details for BMRA members provided on our website and not rely on third-party information.
METAL INTERESTS LIMITED WINS ITS SECOND QUEEN'S AWARD!
21st April 2011
The West Sussex based family-owned specialist metal recycling company, trading since 1993 and currently employing 48 personnel, first achieved this prestigious Award in 2007 and has continued its growth in export earnings by 200% in spite of the recession, exports making up 67% of its total trading activities during the period. The Company has consolidated its trading relationships with the EU, China, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Taiwan, USA and the UAE and in addition it has created new business partnerships with companies in Austria, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.
In the UK, Metal Interests continues to trade in material both for the national and international market mostly processing through its two depots, in Leeds and in Coventry where the Company handles material specifically for the aircraft industry.
The Company was founded on a passion for the benefits of recycling to society and the environment and during 2009 Roger Brewster, the Managing Director and past President of the BSMA (now BMRA), originated and developed a study with Imperial College and the BIR on the merits of metal recycling in terms of conservation of global resources and the minimisation of CO2 emissions. This study was launched in Monaco, endorsed by Lord Stern of Brentford and presented at the Environmental conference in Copenhagen, following on from Kyoto.
The Directors are extremely proud of the fact that the workforce has been increased in real terms during the past three years since the previous Award including the addition of representatives in Europe and Thailand and wish to thank all their Staff for their unstinting hard work and commitment during the past few difficult years.
This Award is an award for everyone in the Company as recognition of the dedication shown by all.
TSI Scrap Event 2011 - 12 May 2011 in Amsterdam
15th April 2011
Click here for more information about the TSI Scrap Event 2011 on 12 May 2011 in Amsterdam.
"Scrapbook" Issue 1 published
10th November 2010
The first edition of Scrapbook – a new twice-yearly newsletter for BMRA members - has been published and copies are being posted to members today. Scrapbook is also available for download by clicking here.
10 November 2010
BMRA/ACPO Code of Practice
25th October 2010
The BMRA and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have launched a voluntary Code of Practice to deter thieves from illegally trading stolen metal. The code gives clear guidelines on how to improve security and what to do if employees are suspicious of any criminal activity. Importantly, the code provides common guidance for local police forces and metals recyclers.
The code of practice is a strong reflection of the BMRA's and ACPO’s commitment to tackling the problem of metal crime and how the industry is supporting businesses and the police to reduce the number of incidents.
Paul Crowther, ACPO lead on conductive metal theft and Deputy Chief Constable of British Transport Police, said:
“The code will ensure police forces across England and Wales improve their industry understanding and work with the industry in a consistent manner.”
Click here to download a copy of the Code of Practice.
Dow Jones World Scrap Weekly
7th October 2010
Dow Jones World Scrap Weekly is a weekly publication with in-depth information on the global scrap market.
Dow Jones World Scrap Weekly:
• delivers two-weekly in-depth market reports on the global ferrous and non-ferrous scrap markets
• gives a weekly wrap of recent developments
• provides a “week-ahead-forecast”
• gives solid market analysis
• further features are:
º cash market data and futures
º Spot market quotes and price data on scrap substitutes, e.g. iron ore and pig iron
Set up for a free 2 week trial - without obligation!
Take advantage of our BMRA member special:
• Extended launch price
• Permanent discount of 20%
For further information please contact:
Nadine Voiss-Wolf
Telephone: +49 (0) 69 / 29725 – 163
Email: Nadine.Voiss@dowjones.com
Or visit our website http://www.recyclemetals.org/bmraadmin/www.WorldScrapWeekly.com
BMRA’S DEDICATED PERMITTING AND PLANNING SUPPORT SERVICE
28th September 2010
Since 6 April 2010, any new Environmental Permits, Exemptions and Variations have had to be submitted under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010. Current Paragraph 45 Exemptions remain valid until October 2013 under transitional arrangements. However, any exempt site that receives hazardous waste may have to apply for a Standard Rules Permit. Obtaining planning approval can be a costly, complex and lengthy process.
BMRA has partnered with 360 Environmental Ltd to provide support for recyclers through the planning or permitting application maze. The service will help members ensure that they comply with the new regulations and meet the deadlines for transition to the new regime. BMRA members can have (free) initial telephone advice and, if appropriate, further support.
360 Environmental has extensive experience in this area. Their staff have backgrounds in waste and recycling and regulatory bodies and they understand the key issues for your business and authorities alike.
You can get more details about the scheme and how to access it by clicking here.
Scam alert! Fraudsters continue to use BMRA members' details.
4th August 2010
Earlier this year we advised that a BMRA member's company details had been used in attempts to conduct fraudulent activity. We have now been made aware of another similar scam, in which a member's details were used to seek advance payments for scrap to be exported to India.
There is little that members can do to stop the scams apart from keeping an eye out for internet links to their company names using popular internet search engines to check whether their details are being misused to conduct fraudulent activity. If any member discovers material on the Internet that suggests their company details could be at risk they should report the matter to the police immediately. Companies can also contact the Office of Fair Trading (08454 040506).
BT USES SMARTWATER TO MARK CABLE
23rd June 2010
The flyer below advertizes the BT programme to mark their cables with Smartwater; click on the image to download a high-quality pdf version from our "Useful Links" page. Members may find it useful to display a copy prominently as a deterrent to metal thieves who may consider offering stolen cable.
SmartWater Technology Ltd is a BMRA Service member; please click here for more information about their products and services.
You can find out more about BT's national campaign against cable theft by clicking here.
"Solutions 73" Croner business support newsletter
23rd April 2010
The latest Croner business support newsletter is now available for download here. Subjects covered include bullying and harrassment in the workplace, and TUPE. There is also an article on a prosecution of a recycling firm by the HSE for failing to safeguard flammable liquid that resulted in fines and costs in excess of £46,000 being levied on the company.
PRESIDENT OF BMRA ANNOUNCES NEW HEALTH & SAFETY PLEDGE
17th December 2009
Michael Wright, president of British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), has announced that the Association is introducing a binding Health and Safety pledge for members in 2010.
Mr Wright made the announcement as part of his address to BMRA members at the Associations annual dinner, held in Birmingham this month. At the event he explained to over 450 metals recyclers and guests that as a signatory of the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Charter, BMRA has committed to reducing RIDDOR reported accidents by 10% year-on-year for the next five years, and to reduce the number of working days lost due to work-related injuries and ill health across its membership.
Michael Wright said: BMRAs new Health and Safety pledge demonstrates that our members are taking an industry lead on reducing accidents and injuries in the workplace. This binding pledge, developed by the Board on behalf of members, is an extension of our well-established health and safety programme. It complements our Code of Conduct and reflects BMRAs ambition to tackle the challenges presented by fast-paced working environments involving industrial processes.
Responding to BMRAs announcement, Geoff Cox, head of Health and Safety Executives (HSE) manufacturing sector said: HSE is extremely pleased to see the BMRA launch its health and safety pledge. Requiring a commitment to health and safety objectives as a condition of membership is a very real and practical way for any trade association to show leadership within its industry.
He added: The BMRAs Pledge demonstrates this industrys commitment to delivering its part of the WISH Strategic Objectives and will be instrumental in improving health and safety standards in waste and recycling overall.
BMRA is the trade body for the metals recycling industry. It represents 300 businesses ranging from small family-owned enterprises to large multi-nationals.
BMRA members process over 85% of metals recycled in the UK and are involved with activities such as metals collection, separation, compacting and shredding, plus advanced media separation and international trading.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Richard Truman
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER MEETS BMRA MEMBERS TO DISCUSS PLANS FOR INDUSTRY GROWTH
2nd December 2009
Environment Minister, Dan Norris MP, has been meeting with metals recyclers to discuss the industrys ambitions to boost recycling in the UK, as part of a fact-finding tour organised by British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA).
BMRA director general, Ian Hetherington, accompanied the minister to a recycling site in Essex which demonstrated how non-ferrous metals and catalytic converters are collected and processed. The minister then went on to visit a metals recycler in Kent to learn about shredder operations and large-scale metals processing, including End-of-Life Vehicles and export shipping.
Commenting on the tour, Environment Minister Dan Norris MP said: Todays visit shows the UK has a strong metal recycling industry that makes a major contribution to UK waste recovery and exports and is saving world energy demands - helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We need to see more and more metal being recycled, encouraging the industry while providing the right amount of safeguards to protect the environment and keep out rogue operators.
Ian Hetherington, director general of BMRA said: This ministerial visit is part of a series of fact-finding tours organised by BMRA to help government and MPs develop a deeper understanding of the metals recycling industry, which contributes 5 billion a year to the UK economy.
BMRA and the Environment Minister had very productive talks about a number of issues affecting metals recyclers including the Waste Framework Directive, Defras planned revisions to environmental permitting and the need for proportionate and risk-based regulation backed by consistent enforcement across the UK.
Ian Hetherington concluded: We welcome the Ministers support for the continued development of the metals recycling sector and are pleased to note he acknowledged the part our members are playing in cutting the countrys carbon emissions.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Richard Truman
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
Metals recycling industry sets out Agenda for Change
25th November 2009
BMRA LAUNCHES GROWTH POLICY FOR METALS RECYCLING AT HOUSE OF COMMONS
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has today (24 November) launched Agenda for Change, a policy document calling for government support for the further development of the UKs metals recycling sector, at a gathering of ministers, backbench MPs and industry leaders.
The launch, at the House of Commons, saw the president of BMRA, Michael Wright, announce that BMRA will be campaigning to persuade government to support the growth and development of the UKs metals recycling sector by reviewing regulation, enforcement, and capacity-building requirements.
Speaking at the launch, Environment Minister Dan Norris MP said: As we try and move towards a World Without Waste, I have seen for myself the important role that metals recycling can play in protecting the environment and diverting materials from landfill. The launch of BMRAs Agenda for Change is a valuable opportunity to hear from metals recyclers and fellow parliamentarians about how industry and Government can work together to strengthen that contribution and help the UK meet its producer responsibility targets.
Commenting on Agenda for Change, BMRA president Michael Wright said: Metals recyclers already contribute 5 billion a year to the UKs balance of payments and are essential to the UKs ability to hit EU recycling targets for End-of-Life vehicles, packaging, batteries and WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment). We believe we can do a lot more, with the right policy and regulatory framework in place.
In Agenda for Change, BMRA sets out four key areas in which metal recyclers need government support if the sector is to increase the contribution it makes to the countrys economic and environmental ambitions. BMRA will be working with politicians and policymakers to develop proportionate and risk-based approaches to regulation introduce consistent regulatory enforcement across the UK, and explore opportunities for increasing recycling capacity by addressing planning and land use issues, incentivising investment in research and development of post-shredder technologies, and investigating the potential of Energy from Waste as a means of diverting commercial residual waste from landfill. BMRA will also be working to ensure the swift adoption of the reclassification of metals as secondary raw material, under the revised EU Waste Framework Directive.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Richard Truman
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
MRW opinion piece
28th October 2009
By Ian Hetherington, director general of British Metals Recycling Association
The Copenhagen Summit will soon be upon us. Newspapers are already carrying stories of the governments commitment to reducing the UKs carbon emissions and encouraging other nations to take similar steps.
Gordon Brown may well be making clear calls for the international community to join forces to fight climate change but on the ground, back at home, we are receiving mixed messages about the governments intentions towards one of the nations most successful recycling sectors: metals.
This autumn we hope to have the green light from the EU to reclassify recovered steel and aluminium as secondary raw materials, as part of its adoption of the Waste Framework Directive - a fantastic boost for UK metal recyclers that in one fell swoop could remove legislative burdens on exporters and open up new markets. Yet in the same period Defra is introducing more red tape, with its announcement that it intends to change environmental permitting by 2013 and introduce changes that are expected to push some smaller metal recyclers out of business.
Defras removal of paragraph 45 exemptions means that from 2013 small metal recyclers will be subject to the same permitting regime as large and more complex metal recycling businesses. They will also have to fund new staff training procedures to fulfil the requirements of Certificates of Technical Competency (a certification programme designed for the waste management sector not metal processors) and in some cases apply for retrospective planning permission, if they are to remain in business. For SME metal recyclers Defras dismantling of the current exemption system could be the straw that breaks the camels back. It could represent an unsupportable business burden that forces closure of some operations.
There would appear to be a touch of irony in the timing of Defras announcement: just as the international community will be sitting to discuss initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, conserve finite resources and tackle climate change in Copenhagen, Parliament will be sitting in London to authorise the introduction of new legislation which will potentially reduce the UKs recycling infrastructure.
The infrastructure at risk, metal recycling, forms part of the UKs largest recycling sector. This sector generates 5billion every year for the UK economy and recovers 15 million tonnes of metals every year. According to BIRs research it is a global recycling resource that contributes to the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions by 500 million tonnes per year. And as Joan Ruddock observed when Under Secretary of State for climate change, biodiversity and waste, it is an industry vital to our achieving our EU targets on end-of-life vehicles, on batteries and on electrical and electronic equipment.
There is evidence aplenty that metal recycling can help our economy and our environment. Lets hope that the Copenhagen Summit encourages the worlds policymakers to capitalise on the opportunities presented by activities such as metal recycling, which offer hope for the achievement of sustainable growth in the industrialised world. Lets hope that it brings clarity to government thinking on legislation and that back in the UK we see a renewed commitment to expanding materials recovery capacity in the UK.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA WELCOMES SCRAPPAGE SCHEME EXTENSION
1st October 2009
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has welcomed this weeks Government announcement that it has extended its scrappage scheme by 100m.
Commenting on the news BMRA director general Ian Hetherington said: The BMRA is pleased that the government has extended the scrappage scheme. So far, it has helped to bring increased capacity into the industry at a time of otherwise reduced volumes for metal recyclers and is good for business.
He added: The scrappage scheme has real environmental and economic benefits: some BMRA members are achieving material recovery rates in excess of 85% on ELVs and the materials are being re-used.
Only metal recyclers with Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) status can accept End of Life Vehicles (ELVs). A full listing of BMRA members with ATF status can be found at www.recyclemetals.org.
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Richard Truman
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk richard.truman@pelicanpr.co.uk
MRW opinion piece
17th September 2009
By Howard Bluck, Head of Environment at British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA)
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), of which BMRA is an active member, recently released figures that underlined the value of metal recycling to the business community and the environment: their research suggests that recycling metal can reduce energy usage in the production of certain non-ferrous metals by up to 99% and by up to 39% for ferrous metals.
Using less energy means lower operating costs. Crucially, it also means lower CO2 emissions - recycling metal has been estimated to lower global CO2 emissions by 500 million tonnes a year.
Vast amounts of energy are needed to mine and process ores and to smelt and form metals. Using reclaimed materials instead of virgin sources can therefore make a significant contribution to improved profitability and improved environmental performance.
We know that using recycled metals reduces air pollution, water use and water pollution. It also reduces materials sent to landfill. All these indicators suggest that metal recycling is an activity that offers economic and environmental benefits to industrialised and industrialising nations.
UK metal recyclers currently process 15 million tonnes of metal per year. This generates trade worth 5billion and puts the UK on the global map as a leader in a highly competitive marketplace. But this is just the baseline of possibilities.
In its Waste Strategy (2007) Defra estimates that a further 2 million tonnes of predominantly domestic metal is currently landfilled in England each year. WRAP
has backed this up, suggesting that around 1 million tonnes of these metals could be diverted from landfill and recovered from the waste stream by 2020.
Metal recyclers cannot achieve these recovery rates alone. We need to see more joined-up government thinking on the issues of recycling legislation and infrastructure we need to see government support for investment in recovery/recycling technologies like Energy from Waste, but we also need to see closer working relationships between product designers and manufacturers and the metal recycling industry. Why? Because recovery and re-use rates for metals found in domestic and commercial waste streams could be transformed if sustainability were incorporated more into the design of domestic consumer goods and products.
The metal recycling industry has decades of knowledge and experience that designers committed to reducing their carbon footprint could benefit from. As experts in processing complex and sometimes hazardous materials, metal recyclers are best-placed to advise on how products can be designed to maximise material recovery and re-use at the end of their life.
We need to see a two-pronged approach to the development of recycling capacity in the UK to ensure that consumers and industry can fulfil their low carbon ambitions: the first is up to government and the appropriate use of legislation affecting recycling service provision, trade and infrastructure the second is inter-industry partnerships that put sustainable design at the heart of manufacturing.
If the UK is to reduce its CO2 emissions by 80% by 2020 as the government wants and if UK consumers are to continue to enjoy their mp3 players, computers and mobile phones, the UK must do more to bring together the interests and experience of consumers, designers, academics, manufacturers and recyclers. Our approach to design and manufacture has to change if we are to tackle climate change and conserve finite resources like metals.
Metal is one of the few materials that can be re-used time and time again without any detriment to quality or performance. BIRs research shows what an impact this can have on reducing greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Metal recyclers can better these statistics, but only if manufacturers and government engage with the industry and collaborate in the development of recycling strategies that embed sustainability in the design and use of every product that contains metal.
ENDS
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
Red tape could strangle the growth of metal recycling
21st August 2009
Environment Industry Magazine
Feature
Ian Hetherington, director general of British Metals Recycling Association talks about a surge in opportunities and the bureaucracy that could hold back business.
This autumn the EU will consider proposals for defining end of waste as part of the new Waste Framework Directive, which it is anticipated will take steel and aluminium out of the waste stream and pave the way for all recycled metals to be reclassified as secondary raw materials. It is a legislative change that looks set to transform the way metal recyclers can operate, and has the potential to open up new export markets, boosting trade in difficult times.
The reclassification of metals as secondary raw materials is not the only opportunity being presented to metal recyclers. The industry could well be poised for a something of a renaissance with calls for the introduction of a raft of scrappage schemes to stimulate the economy by encouraging consumers to trade in old cars, fridges and televisions for new more environmentally-friendly versions.
These proposals are music to the ears of metal recyclers who have been battling through difficult trading times and working hard to maintain the UKs position as one of the main players in the global recycled metals market.
However, some industry insiders are concerned that their ability to take advantage of these opportunities may be hampered by the governments plans to revise various rules and regulations governing recycling operations.
The metal recycling industry has learned that over the coming three years, the government proposes to:
Review environmental permitting exemptions its current preference is the introduction of full environmental permitting for metal recyclers, in place of an exemption system that has served everyone well for the last 14 years.
Re-impose landfill tax on shredder residues the tax will be applied at the top rate and applied even where this residual material is being used for day cover and other engineering uses.
Introduce Pollution Prevention and Control (PCC) regulation of shredders this is being done despite the fact there is no valid evidence that shredders produce harmful pollutants that justify this level of control.
Revise certificates of technical competence the government wants to introduce a requirement for site supervisors to obtain a certificate of technical competence that is obtainable by exam. The industry believes the proposed certification process is disproportionate to the responsibilities of site supervisors and has yet to see any evidence that environmental benefits will arise from this type of competency certification.
Continue with enforcement systems that do little to minimise unfair competition or stamp out illegal operators it is well known that many local authorities are failing to fulfil their duties under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act. This presents problems for metal recyclers and the communities they serve it attracts fly-by-night collectors and creates opportunities for criminals, both have economic and environmental consequences.
These proposals pose numerous threats to metal recycling operations because they increase the burdens on businesses and introduce more cost and complexity, without providing any additional protection for the environment or human health.
Metal recyclers need a legislative framework that reflects the nature of their business if they are to benefit from the changes to the End of Waste Directive and play a full role in increasing the UKs ability to recycle metal recovered from simple or complex sources.
Over the coming months the British Metals Recycling Association will be lobbying government to make the case for an industry-specific review of legislation.
Metal recycling in the UK accounts for 45% of Europes 10 million tonne global trade. In 2007/08 the industry recycled 2 million cars, 5 billion food and drink cans, 3.5 million white goods and 8 million automotive batteries. The industry is crucial to the countrys ability to hit EU recycling targets for end-of-life vehicles, batteries, packaging and WEEE. With the right legislation in place metal recyclers can achieve so much more.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
Modernising Legislation: an industry perspective : CIWM Conference – 12/16 June 2006, Paignton
17th June 2009
The British Metals Recycling Association represents 300 members, dispersed throughout the UK, ranging from large multi-million pound businesses to small family companies. Members range from traders, through merchants to shredder operators and increasingly the larger companies are involved in diversified metals, waste and media separation activities. Our membership includes some 95% of the industry, by volume.
Metals recycling is, first and foremost, a competitive industry. Our annual turnover is 3.5 billion. We provide employment for 18,000 people and we handle around 13 million tonnes of metal every year. The material we process comes from a wide range of sources including two to three million tonnes from industry, 2.2 million cars, around 3.5 million cookers, washing machines and other white goods, and some 2 billion food recycling is also, even before any of the recent legislation, highly resource efficient. Around 42% of steel and 39% of aluminium is made from processed scrap metal, an effective substitution of secondary raw materials in place of natural materials such as iron ore, coal and bauxite. There are also significant energy savings, up to 95% in using secondary raw materials to make aluminium and major savings in CO2 emissions: EU figures indicate that using recycled raw materials, including metals, cuts CO2 emissions by some 200 million tonnes CO2 equivalent every year.
The sub-title of this session suggests that the waste and resource management business exists because of environmental legislation. I trust the brief facts I have set out are enough to show you that this is not so for the metals recycling industry. Our sector is a highly resource efficient and competitive industry which makes a significant contribution to the UK balance of payments. We do not exist because of environmental legislation, and indeed pre-date its introduction. However, there is no doubt that environmental regulation has changed our world.
Has regulation been good for metals recycling?
There have of course been some benefits, both for our industry and for the community, from regulations such as waste management licensing and hazardous waste regulations. Amongst these are:-
oStandardized regulations. For an industry operating nationwide, one set of regulations makes a lot more sense than local authorities setting the rules. However, we still suffer from regional interpretation of national standards and there remain significant differences in regulation between the four nations of the UK. For instance we have waste oil storage regulations in England that do not apply in Wales.
oOn-site environmental practice has improved and the worst performing sites cleaned up.
oCleaner sites improve health One size fits all, as in the approach to using standardised forms for hazardous waste consignment forms and returns, is undoubtedly sensible for a streamlined national administrative system. However it makes little sense for businesses operating in very different industries and results in our members spending considerable time in seeking clarification or negotiating for exceptions. Documentation and procedures relating to the implementation of Hazardous Waste Regulations have undoubtedly been one of our biggest issues in the past year.
All these problems represent additional costs, in effect an additional tax, on our business.
Clearly it is right that European and UK Government should act to protect the environment and preserve natural resources. We in our industry have no objection to well prepared regulation which is properly structured and sensibly enacted to bring this about. But have got the balance right between community environmental benefit and the economic needs of industry?
Metals recycling is subject to ever increasing regulation
Most of what I have said so far relates to Waste Management and Hazardous Waste Regulations. But our industry is also at the sharp end of a whole raft of EU Producer Responsibility Directives, notably:
Packaging Directive, implemented in 1998
ELV Directive, implemented in 2003
WEEE Directive, implemented perhaps in late 2006/early 2007?
Batteries Directive, for which we have no implementation date yet.
As such regulation increases, so does our sectors administrative and cost burden.
This focus on products and the targets associated with the Directives, also forces our industry to focus on new activities. Thus, for example, innovation amongst our shredder operators is no longer focused on the economic objective of faster, more efficient metals processing, but on developing new post shredder technologies that enable the recycling or recovery of non-metallic materials and, ultimately, lead to achievement of End of Life Vehicle Directive targets.
Our market focus is also affected, as new effort is directed towards developing solutions for waste oils and shredder tyres - taking the focus away from our fast moving international metals market.
So what are the benefits of these directives? Their aim is to minimise landfill, to increase reuse and recycling and to make better use of natural resources. But metal has always been recycled and, as demonstrated earlier, the use of recycled metals as secondary raw material is highly resource efficient. DTI has recently confirmed that at least 75% of a car is metallic and agreed that it can be assumed that all this goes for recycling because it always did. There have been some gains in recovered metal as a result of the Packaging Directive. However I would argue that in overall volume terms these gains are marginal and such gains as have been achieved are as a result of recovery of metallic packaging materials from domestic waste which is really a matter for local authority facilities rather than the metals industry.
And do these Producer Responsibility Directives pass the tests for modern regulation set out for this session? As we have already seen, for an industry operating in a market economy, they multiply administration and that means costs our sites are subject to increased monitoring our business plans are re-directed. Further, the introduction of new regulation without sufficient joined-up thinking can open the door to illegal operators. So from our point of view, they do little to recognise best practice, stimulate investment or even to effectively penalize the bad.
How can we modernise regulation for community and business benefit?
But regulation is clearly here to stay. So are there ways we can improve the balance between community and business benefit?
Here a just a few things the metal recycling industry would like to see:
oRecognition that metals is an important secondary raw material. Metals is not a waste problem
oJoined up thinking before regulation. For example, it would have been enormously helpful to have had in place a robust Certificate of Destruction System, agreed between DVLA, DTI, DEFRA and the Agency, before implementation of ELV Directive targets.
oSimplified regulation for low risk activities. EP OPRA guidance identifies metals as low risk. Lets shift the emphasis onto chasing the illegal operators who operate outside of our system.
oA better balance between industry needs and those of the regulator. This means, for instance, developing documentation for Hazardous Waste or other Regulations which is customized and simplified for particular industries such as metal recycling.
And finally, no more Producer Responsibility Directives and a stronger focus on materials. Indeed, no more regulations at all, until through EPP or otherwise we have made what is already in place work more cost effectively for both community and industry.
Lindsay Millington, Director General
British Metals Recycling Association
BMRA IN TALKS WITH CHINESE METAL RECYCLING ASSOCIATION
3rd June 2009
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has started talks with the Chinese Metal Recycling Association (CMRA) as part of a drive to develop stronger trading partnerships between the two associations members.
The president of the CMRA, Wang Gongim, yesterday spent four hours with Ian Hetherington, the director general of the BMRA discussing trade relations between the UK and China at Sackers Recycling in Suffolk. Sackers was hosting the first visit to the UK by the CMRA: a delegation of 25 CMRA members who represent some of Chinas major buyers of recycled non-ferrous metals.
We had a very successful meeting and have opened up a dialogue which I am confident will benefit both BMRA and CMRA members. Wang Gongim and I have agreed that closer working relationships between our trade associations will be of long term benefit and prepare both the UK and China to take advantage of the upturn in trade that is anticipated as Chinas economy stabilises and following the introduction of the Chinese Governments stimulus package, said Ian Hetherington.
Commenting on the CMRAs visit to Sackers and his meeting with the BMRA, Wang Gongim, president of the CMRA said: It is our honour and pleasure to be here. We are interested in developing communication and international trade. China is showing signs of recovery and we want to work in partnership with companies like Sackers and our colleagues at BMRA to develop mutually beneficial trading arrangements.
Wang Gongim and Ian Hetherington also discussed the BMRAs concerns over the integrity of contractual relations. They agreed in principle that improved information flows concerning the financial stability of Chinese buyers and better buyer/seller relations and education should be the subject of further discussions between the two associations when they meet again in November.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
SUFFOLK METAL RECYCLER HOSTS CHINESE TRADE DELEGATION’S FIRST VISIT TO THE UK
3rd June 2009
Sackers Recycling of Great Blakenham has today played host to an important delegation of 25 Chinese metal recyclers, representing some of Chinas biggest recycling companies, as part of its drive to develop stronger trading relations with China.
In what could be described as an industry coup, Sackers pipped bigger UK metal recycling companies to the post in hosting the visit, which was the Chinese Metal Recycling Associations first stop on a brief tour of the UK.
Commenting on the visit, David Dodds, joint managing director of Sackers said: We have had a great day getting to know our customers and colleagues from China. This visit is the culmination of four years of travelling regularly to China. Our work with Chinese metal recyclers has given us the confidence to recently install a multi million pound shredding machine which allows us to transform metals collected in Suffolk into material ready to be used by foundries in China. And our business is growing as a consequence.
He added We see opportunities for the whole of our region as Sackers increases its processing capacity and export traffic. All of Sackers exports to China will be shipped out of Felixstowe and our increased recycling capacity means that businesses in Suffolk now have a great opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint by sending more of their metal-based waste to be processed and recycled locally.
Ian Hetherington, director general of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) was also part of the delegation. Commenting on Sackers achievements he said: Sackers offer a great example of what can be achieved through commitment to customer relationships and partnership working. Here we have a Suffolk-based family business working with some of the biggest names in Chinas metal recycling industry. The companys investment in a multi million pound shredder means it can now offer services previously associated with operators on a far larger scale. These developments are a sign of Sackers confidence and vision, and BMRA will be working to support the company and other BMRA members in their export activities through its work with the Chinese Metal Recycling Association.
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
NEW BMRA DG TALKS SUSTAINABILITY WITH SHADOW MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
9th April 2009
The new director general of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), Ian Hetherington, has briefed the Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for the Environment and Climate Change on metal recycling and its role in securing a sustainable future, as part of a meet the recycler event in the Midlands.
Martin Horwood MP visited metal recycling sites and met with BMRA members during an information gathering day organised by the BMRA to explain how metal recyclers contribute to the UKs ability to hit EU recycling and sustainability targets, and to discuss the trading and legislative issues that hamper metal recyclers.
Ian Hetherington hosted the site visits and introduced Martin Horwood MP to BMRA members representing the range of businesses that form the backbone of the metal recycling industry. Hetherington said: The visits were a great success. As Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Martin Horwood was very receptive to our views on how Government should be supporting metal recyclers so that they can do more for the economy and the environment. Our members were very grateful that Mr Horwood took the time to meet them and learn about the work they do.
These visits are crucial in helping politicians to build an accurate understanding of metal recycling, which is an industry recovering 15 million tonnes of valuable secondary raw material every year, making massive energy and CO2 emission savings in the process. Our ability to build a sustainable future depends on dialogue between politicians, policymakers and industry and the BMRA is determined to build links with as many people as possible to keep metal recycling and sustainability on the political agenda.
Reviewing his day with the BMRA, Martin Horwood MP said: I have seen how a wide range of metals are recycled and learnt a lot about how the metal recycling industry is structured. This industry needs to be better understood. It clearly has a huge role to play in our ability to hit recycling and sustainability targets which are becoming ever more challenging. Metal recyclers are recovering materials to high specifications, for established markets at home and abroad. Metal recycling is about asset management not waste and I will be looking at ways to make sure that the UK capitalises on this. Our future depends upon getting recycling and resource management right and this is an industry with a vast amount of experience and knowledge that stakeholders in the recycling sector could benefit from.
BMRA will be hosting a series of meet the recycler days throughout the year to introduce politicians and policymakers to its Agenda for Change. This report outlines the role that metal recycling plays in the UK economy and suggests improvements that need to be made to legislation and regulation if the UK is to hit its recycling targets and build on the 5 billion of international trade that UK metal recyclers generate every year.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA WELCOMES EUROPEAN PROPOSALS FOR NEW END OF WASTE CRITERIA
13th March 2009
The BMRA (British Metals Recycling Association) has welcomed the release of two European reports calling for new end of waste criteria which would recognise that fully recovered metals are highly valuable secondary raw material.
Restrictions on the recycled metal trade could be eased if the European Commission (EC) adopts the proposals put forward in the reports issued by the European Environment Council and the ECs research centre, IPTS.
The European Environment Council of Ministers is calling for the European Commission to remove the unnecessary burden that the current waste definitions place on recyclers. And IPTS has set out a methodology which can be used to define when metals stop being waste.
IPTS conducted three case studies to determine when the definition for end-of-waste should apply. It looked at metals (iron, steel and aluminium), compost and aggregates and examined whether there was a common methodology which could be used. It also proposed specific criteria that might define end-of-waste criteria for each material.
BMRA director general Lindsay Millington commented: IPTS has recognised that once metal has been properly collected, separated and placed on the market, it is not a risk for the environment. Moreover it has a high value and is in world-wide demand as a secondary raw material. On average, around 40% of all smelted metals come from recovered metals. There is no case to label this material waste.
She added: We welcome the fact that IPTS have developed such a practical methodology after spending time with the industry and visiting metal recycling sites in the UK. The current waste definition puts European metal recyclers at a disadvantage in the world market, since it places restrictions on trade that our main competitors (Russia, Japan, and the United States) do not have to consider. This is a particular concern for BMRA members because nearly half of all Europes recovered metal exports come from the UK. We are now keen to see the recommendations adopted in European law as soon as possible.
The EC and IPTS proposals will be considered at a meeting of European Commission and member states government representatives later this month, as part of the implementation of the revised Waste Framework Directive agreed late in 2008.
BMRAs support for the proposals has the full backing of metal recycling associations across Europe. The European Ferrous Recovery assist the EU and national authorities, in cooperation with the main consumers (steelworks, foundries, smelters), to carry the criteria proposed by IPTS into a Commission decision of end of waste.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
BMRA CONDEMNS DEFRA’S MOVE TO INCREASE SITE LICENSING
13th March 2009
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has condemned Defra proposals that could require a third of the UKs metal recyclers to apply for environmental permits, if they want to stay in business.
Waste and recycling minister, Jane Kennedy, revealed the potential impact of proposals contained in Defra and the Environment Agencys review of exemptions when replying to a parliamentary question from Adrian Bailey MP, the Labour representative for West Bromwich West. The Minister indicated that over 600 sites would need to move to new permits, but declined to give an estimation of the costs to business.
Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA said: We have repeatedly advised Defra and the Environment Agency that these exemption proposals will put an additional squeeze on small-scale recyclers who already have to cope with an unreasonable administrative burden imposed by legislation and regulation. We have still not seen any evidence of environmental risk to support the proposals. But Defra and the Agency continue to pursue an option that will increase operating costs, require new competence certificates and increase uncertainty by requiring new planning consents to be obtained. There is a real risk that these proposals will put valuable recyclers out of business and further hamper the UKs ability to compete in the global metal recycling market. This is highly inappropriate, especially given todays economic climate.
She added: We urge Defra and the Environment Agency to abandon their proposals to end paragraph 45 exemptions. We have written to the minister to seek an urgent meeting with industry representatives.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
HETHERINGTON TO TAKE THE HELM AT BMRA
23rd February 2009
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has today announced that Ian Hetherington, former chief executive of Skills for Logistics, will take over as director general in April 2009.
Hetherington has more than 15 years experience of working with businesses and representing their needs to UK and EU government. In his previous role as chief executive of Skills for Logistics, he was responsible for the sector skills council for businesses involved in planning, moving, and handling goods - an industry worth 74 billion to the economy, employing approximately over 2 million people.
Commenting on the appointment, Michael Wright, president of the BMRA said: We are very pleased to welcome Ian to the BMRA team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will help us to drive forward Agenda for Change, our programme of lobbying on regulatory issues, and is just the right person to build on the sterling work that has been done by Lindsay Millington over the last four years.
Millington and Hetherington will work together in a planned handover phase before Hetherington officially takes on the role of director general in April. Im looking forward to working with Lindsay and the BMRA membership, said Ian Hetherington. Metal recycling is worth 5 billion to the UK economy and is far and away our biggest and most successful recycling industry. It can do even more, given the right support from government. From April I will be focusing on ensuring that UK and European policymakers fully understand the massive contribution BMRA members make to recycling and CO2 reduction targets. I will be pressing government and regulators to be more active in tackling issues such as over-regulation, end-of-waste and illegal operators, and will encourage them to join with us in developing a co-ordinated industry-government strategy to meet future targets.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
METAL RECYCLING INDUSTRY GIVES OVER £50,000 TO ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA APPEAL
12th December 2008
The metal recycling industry gave over 50,000 to the Royal Hospital Chelsea (RHC) at the British Metals Recycling Associations (BMRA) annual dinner, to help the hospital upgrade and improve the service it provides to over 300 retired soldiers.
BMRA charity trustee, George Bond, presented a cheque to Chelsea Pensioners Eric Griffiths, Don Matthews and Don Crassweller, who were special guests at the dinner in Solihull. Mr Bond explained: Although we are currently experiencing a downturn, the metal recycling industry has enjoyed growth in recent years and we wanted others to benefit from our successes. The nation owes a debt of gratitude to all members of the armed services. We hope that this gift from the metal recycling industry will help make the Royal Hospital more comfortable for its veteran soldiers.
Major General APN Currie CB, Lieutenant Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea said: On behalf of the Chelsea Pensioners can I say how grateful we are for such a generous donation, which will help us make the Royal Hospital Chelsea fit for purpose in the 21st century.
The Royal Hospital Chelsea aims to raise 35 million to build and equip a new infirmary and to modernise Pensioners living accommodation within the Long Wards designed by Christopher Wren for King Charles II in 1682. The refurbishment programme will provide accommodation for the first group of women soldiers to join
Cont
2.
the Royal Hospital Chelsea and ensure that RHC continues to fulfil its founding mission of providing succour and relief to veterans broken by age and war.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1The final amount donated was 55,115, comprising a cheque for 50,000 from the BMRA charitable trust and 5,115 raised during the annual dinner from a draw for a case of champagne and a charity auction.
2The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
3The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
4 Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
5Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
6In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
Caption:
Picture shows (l to r): Chelsea Pensioners Don Matthews, Don Crassweller and Eric Griffiths with BMRA Charity Trustee George Bond.
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA PRESIDENT CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT TO INVEST IN COORDINATED METALS STRATEGY
5th December 2008
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) president, Michael Wright, called on government to work in partnership with the metals recycling industry to identify a metals strategy that will support further growth in the sector, in his speech to members at the Associations annual dinner in Birmingham last night (3 December).
Addressing the Associations 450 guests, Wright explained that the BMRA was lobbying for change and to build a dialogue across a number of government departments. We need to see government support the position that fully recovered metals should no longer be classified as waste so that this barrier to trade and exports can be removed. We need to see sector specific guidance on regulation. We need to see coordinated action to stamp out illegal operators. We need a national strategy for industrial energy from waste, so that we have the capacity to cope with residual wastes arising from ELV, WEEE and other recycling operations. And we need the governments help to develop a strategy to recover the 2 million tonnes of metal that Defra estimates are still sent to landfill every year.
Recovery and recycling are vital to the UKs Climate Change agenda. A recent BIR study indicates that recycling activity is responsible for saving well over 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. The UK recycling industry makes a substantial contribution to these CO2 savings. We could do much more, if only government would let us. Current one-size-fits-all environmental regulation and lack of an industry-focussed strategy are creating barriers to our industrys development. BMRA is extending an invitation to government to talk through these matters and introduce coordinated solutions built on a partnership approach. Our economy and environment need it.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
CHANGE AHEAD FOR BMRA
24th November 2008
British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has launched a search for its next director general. In the last three years BMRA has put metal recycling on the map in the UK and EU through the lobbying work instigated by current director general Lindsay Millington. Millingtons contract ends in early 2009 and the hunt is now on to find someone to drive BMRA campaigns over the coming years.
Commenting on BMRAs recent successes, Millington said: There is now much wider recognition of the size and scope of the industry and of the vital contribution that recovering metals makes to the achievement of European targets for recycling end-of-life vehicles, WEEE, packaging, batteries and construction materials.
We have had a very successful lobbying campaign this year, she added. In the Spring, our policy document Agenda for Change attracted a lot of interest, and MPs held an adjournment debate on metal recycling. We have worked closely with European Commission researchers towards a position that could soon bring the much needed end-of-waste decision for recovered metals. We have also been able to raise industry concerns about over-regulation, shipment controls and other issues directly with Ministers and with the House of Commons Environment Select Committee.
The president of BMRA, Michael Wright of ELG Haniel Limited said: We are now in a stronger position than ever in terms of relationships with government and regulatory authorities and our membership levels are at a peak. Lindsay has done a
magnificent job and we will be sorry to see her go. The Director General of BMRA is a key role that offers a great opportunity for someone who wants to be the voice of the UKs leading recycling sector and play a role in developing policy and regulation for an industry that makes a 5 billion contribution to the UKs balance of payments.
Details of the director general position can be found on the BMRA website: www.recyclemetals.org
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA challenges Defra review of para 45 exemptions
10th November 2008
BMRA CHALLENGES DEFRA REVIEW OF PARA 45 EXEMPTIONS
Defras plans to revise current Paragraph 45 metal recycling exemptions will result in additional burdens on business and will discourage the small operator from recycling, according to the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA).
The BMRA has written to Defra outlining its opposition to the changes the department proposes to make to Paragraph 45 recycling exemptions. The Association highlighted the potential additional regulatory burden on small businesses lack of evidence that the current system is failing, and the revised regulatory regime being out of proportion to identified risks, as areas of concern.
Commenting on Defras consultation, Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA said: In proposing changes to Paragraph 45 exemptions for metal recyclers, Defra is out-of-step with recent Government announcements, which promise to protect small businesses and lighten regulation during the economic slowdown. If enacted, Defras proposals will put a squeeze on small-scale recyclers by adding to their administrative burden and increasing operating costs. Defras changes will also make it easier for sites operating on the margins of the system to appear part of the regulated community.
In our view Defra has failed to make a case for change. Metal recycling is a key activity for UK plc. Compared with other materials streams metal recycling is low risk and regulation needs to be proportionate to risk, not one-size-fits-all. The industry has been subjected to a series of regulatory changes in recent years and in current trading conditions needs to be left to concentrate on operational rather than policy matters. Now is not the time to review the metals recycling exemption. There are no environmental benefits to Defras Paragraph 45 suggestions, only the risk of economic damage to a business sector that contributes 5 billion to the UKs balance of payments. The BMRA is calling on Defra to abandon plans for change and to retain Paragraph 45 exemptions in their current form.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
GOVERNMENT SHOULD REDUCE BURDEN ON METAL RECYCLERS SAYS MP
29th September 2008
West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey is to call on the Government to ensure the European Union does not burden the metal recycling industry with unnecessary red tape and hefty costs.
His call comes after visiting Concorde Metals Recycling in his constituency as part of a fact-finding session organised by the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA). Mr Bailey said: The recycling industry is vital for providing materials for the rest of manufacturing and for conserving the worlds natural resources. It is also a significant local employer and helps to keep council taxes down by reducing the amount of material going into landfill.
Future success of the industry depends on it not being burdened by costly and irrelevant regulation. I am writing to Joan Ruddock, Environment Minister, to demand that when the implementation of the proposed European Waste Framework Directive considers when scrap metal ceases to be waste, this accurately classifies processed scrap metals as secondary raw materials and not waste. This will reduce unnecessary paperwork, broaden the scope for international trading and enable the industry to continue to flourish on behalf of everyone.
Director general of the BMRA, Lindsay Millington, welcomed Mr Baileys calls for a proportionate approach to legislation, saying: The industry is very reassured to see that MPs are willing to come out on site to get a real understanding of the pressures our businesses operate under. Metal recycling is very different from the waste sector. We have been recycling for generations and sell our valuable product all over the world.
The current volume of regulation faced by metal recyclers is unreasonably high in relation to the level of risks involved. It is vital that government takes a more proportionate approach to regulation, which takes industry as well as environmental needs into account.
ENDS
Picture shows: Adrian Bailey MP (centre) and representatives from the BMRA and Concorde Metals Recycling discuss the need for proportionate regulation.
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA WORKING TO COMBAT CATALYTIC CONVERTER THEFTS
14th August 2008
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) met with government and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in July to discuss the next steps in combatting metal thefts and the recent spate of catalytic converters thefts.
Metal theft is being fuelled by high prices of metal on the global market. Catalytic converters are the latest target of thieves because they contain the precious metals platinum, palladium and rodium, which are more valuable than traditional targets, such as lead and copper.
Metal theft is a problem both for the community and for the metal recycling industry, with some BMRA members reporting a theft every day. BMRA director general Lindsay Millington said: Thefts have been a growing problem for our members: their sites have been targeted and some have experienced theft on an almost daily basis. BMRA members have stepped up site security and are doing all they can to ensure they are buying legitimate material.
Millington explained: BMRA members are working closely with local police forces to find ways to deter criminals from approaching their sites with stolen goods. All our sites are registered under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act, which requires them to record the name, address and vehicle registration of people selling metal, no matter how small the value, when material is weighed-in. This procedure can help track vendors of suspicious material. In addition, the BMRA runs a theft alert system, through which details of any stolen metals can be circulated to members around the country, within 24 hours. This means that members are able to identify stolen materials. The service, available on www.recyclemetals.org has already led to the return of significant amounts of metal and the arrest of the thieves concerned, in several parts of the country. The BMRA is working closely with all relevant authorities on the issue of metal theft to quantify the issue and find solutions that are proportionate to the size of the problem. The BMRA is also urging industries which use metals, such as construction, to protect metals in the same way they would any other high-value asset.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA GETS WRIGHT MAN FOR PRESIDENT’S JOB
31st July 2008
Michael Wright, chief operating officer of Sheffield-based ELG Haniel gmbh and chair of the Groups UK operations, has been appointed president of the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA).
Wright follows in the footsteps of Peter Brookes, of Metal s recent annual general meeting, Wright stated that his presidency would focus on two key areas: tackling the changes that metal recyclers need to see in regulatory burden and the industrys public image.
Metal recycling in the UK is a business worth 5 billion that contributes a significant amount to the UK economy and plays a critical role in the countrys ability to hit its EU recycling targets, said Mr Wright, whose company is based in Templeborough. As president of the BMRA I want to work hard to ensure that the industry receives the support and recognition it deserves for this work. My colleagues and I will continue the work that the BMRA has been engaged in in recent years to improve links with politicians and agencies influencing the development of the metal recycling industry.
Commenting on the appointment of Michael Wright, Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA said: The new president brings a wealth of skills and experience to this key role. Im confident he will be a great ambassador for metal recyclers over the coming years. I look forward to working with Michael as we pursue the issues described in the BMRAs Agenda for Change and lobby to secure the position and respect that the legitimate metal recycling industry represented by BMRA deserves, as leading players in a highly competitive global market.
Michael Wright began his career in metal recycling in 1966 with Thomas W Ward Ltd. In 1981 he was one of four people who founded ELG Metals Ltd in Sheffield, a business he subsequently went on to run as managing director. In 1987 Wright was appointed to the board of ELG Haniel gmbh and given global responsibilities. In 2001 he became chair of the Groups UK operations and chief operating officer of ELG Haniel gmbh with responsibility for worldwide purchasing and operations across 40 locations.
As well as being president of the BMRA Michael Wright is chair of the BIR (Bureau of International Recycling) stainless steel and alloy committee.
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Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA reaction to Police crackdown on metal thefts
9th July 2008
Lindsay Millington, director general of the British Metal Recycling Association commented: Metal theft is a major problem and our industry is one of the main victims, we are experiencing regular thefts from our sites. We have been lobbying for a crackdown on illegal operators for many years. It is too easy for sites to operate outside the regulatory system that all our members follow. Illegal operators are a common problem for everyone. They open the route for stolen metals, pose risks to the environment and undercut our trade. We are fully supportive of Police action to stamp out illegal activity. However, we do also need to make sure that Police action does not block legitimate trade.
Metal recovery is the UKs most successful recycling business providing over 15 million tonnes per year of essential raw material for industry. Manufacturing cant function without metal and much of it is made from recovered scrap metal.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production by up to 80%.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
RECYCLERS MEET WITH MEP TO TALK METALS
12th June 2008
Linda McAvan, MEP for Yorkshire and Humber, has visited metal recycling sites in Sheffield as part of a fact-finding event organised by the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA).
The visits were organised ahead of the European Parliaments June vote on the Waste Framework Directive which could have a significant effect on future trade in recycled metals. Yorkshire and Humber is one of the UKs key metal recycling regions an industry sector worth approximately 5 billion.
BMRA members at two of the UKs biggest metal recyclers, ELG Haniel Metals and EMR, discussed the EUs current definition of furnace ready recovered metals as waste with McAvan and the procedures for determining the end of waste. They explained that the current situation raises trade barriers which are of significant concern to metal recyclers, who represent the UKs largest recycling sector.
Commenting on her meeting with metal recyclers, Linda McAvan said: It is always really important to keep in touch with local businesses and their employees, so I was grateful for the opportunity to visit BMRA sites in Sheffield. Cutting waste and using resources more efficiently is an important part of our responsibility to the environment and that is why we need to get this legislation right.
Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA added: Our members were very pleased that Linda McAvan MEP, a member of the European Parliaments Environment, Public Health
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their experience of EU legislation and regulation. We had very useful discussions and showed Ms McAvan how metal recycling is helping the UK to hit its European recycling targets by recovering metals using shredding, baling and shearing, and by processing end-of-life vehicles, metal packaging and stainless steel.
Millington concluded: It is vital that EU legislation supports the further development of metal recycling which not only benefits the environment but is also a major contributor to the UK balance of trade. The BMRA is campaigning at a national and European level to encourage policymakers and regulators to adopt a proportionate and risk-based approach to legislation and to properly recognise the importance of fully recovered metals as secondary raw material. Linda McAvans visit was particularly well-timed because the new Waste Framework Directive, currently reaching conclusion in the European Parliament, provides the opportunity for this recognition.
More details of the BMRAs lobbying work can be found in Agenda for Change on the BMRA website, click on http://www.recyclemetals.org/files/agenda_for_change_final_16_may_08.pdf
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
Cont
3.
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
LINDSAY MILLINGTON, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE BRITISH METAL RECYCLING ASSOCIATION, CALLS FOR AN INDUSTRY-FOCUSSED REVIEW OF REGULATION
28th May 2008
As the Egyptians discovered in building the pyramids, broad foundations produce lasting structures. The success of UK metal recycling, too, has been built on broad foundations, with many small, family-run merchants providing an effective, locally-based supply route for larger merchants, shredder operators and traders. But this metal recycling pyramid is under threat as more and more regulations are introduced, each with its own procedures, costs and paperwork: a massive burden, particularly for small businesses with little administrative resource.
Problems are magnified when new rules are introduced with limited industry road testing, a recent example of which arose over licence modifications for WEEE treatment. Guidance rarely has a pre-existing industry like metal recycling in mind. Yet metal recycling is so central to the recovery of end-of-life products that it has to deal with all the related EU Directives - ELVs, WEEE, Packaging and Batteries, each with its own set of treatment rules.
In the coming months and years metal recycling, a low-risk industry with a well-established market, expects to see even more bureaucracy. The new Environmental Permitting Regulations are supposed to simplify systems and lower costs for business, but instead bring new competence certification requirements. Defras Review of Exemptions could force a third of BMRA members into more complex licensing. Europe is debating the extension of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) to metal recycling sites. None of this one-size-fits-all regulation responds to identified risk.
It is time to consider a more proportionate approach to regulation. We need a more balanced view, leading to sector specific guidance and streamlined systems. That is why BMRA is calling on Government for a full review of regulation affecting metal recyclers, to consider the needs of both the industry and the environment. Without regulatory change those broad foundations that make the UK a world leader in metal recycling will falter.
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BMRA LAUNCHES AGENDA FOR CHANGE TO STEER INDUSTRY SUCCESS
22nd May 2008
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has today launched Agenda for Change, a policy paper that sets out the issues affecting the UKs 5 billion metal recycling industry and the changes that the BMRA needs government and regulators to introduce.
Agenda for Change proposes measures that will help the British metal recycling industry to maintain and strengthen its position as a world leader in the trading of recovered metals.
Nearly 15 million tonnes of metal is recovered every year in the UK. Recycling metals produces high quality materials with significant environmental benefits and there is a well-established global market in which UK companies are leading players. The industry also has a vital role in the countrys ability to meet EU Directive targets for the recovery of packaging, end-of-life vehicles, batteries and WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment). However, one-size-fits-all environmental regulation and the lack of an industry-focussed strategy are creating trade barriers and could stifle future development.
Agenda for Change calls for a thorough review of how regulation affects the industry, sector specific guidance, and a more focussed attack on illegal operators. It seeks the establishment of a Recycling Task Force through which industry and government can work together to ensure the infrastructure is developed to meet future European requirements, such as the target to recycle, reuse or recover 95% of the material in end-of-life vehicles, which must be achieved by 2015. Agenda for Change also explains that the industry is seeking recognition that fully recovered metals are valuable raw material, not waste a change that could be achieved through the new Waste Framework currently being discussed in the European Parliament.
Commenting on the launch of Agenda for Change, Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA said: Metal recycling is the UKs biggest recycling sector, and already makes a major contribution to the economy and the countrys environmental performance. Given the right regulatory framework and political support, we can make an even bigger contribution. Agenda for Change explains what is holding back progress and what metal recyclers believe are some straightforward solutions. Over the coming months BMRA will be using Agenda for Change to set out the key issues that affect our domestic and international trade and to show MEPs, MPs and officials how a few, simple, policy changes could make a real difference for this vital industry.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
BMRA WINS CROSS PARTY SUPPORT FOR REVISION OF METAL REGULATIONS
24th April 2008
In a Commons debate on the UK metal recycling industry, MPs from all three leading parties in Parliament and the Environment Minister, Joan Ruddock, unanimously agreed with the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) that it is time policymakers tackled key issues affecting the activities and achievement of UK metal recyclers. Ruddock also announced the Environment Agencys intention to favourably revise regulations relating to metal off cuts.
This degree of cross-party agreement presents a significant opportunity for regulatory change that could help UK metal recyclers to increase still further the role they play in the UKs ability to hit EU targets on recycling and recovery. Joan Ruddocks first response to the industrys calls for action was to announce that the Environment Agency will be publishing revised guidance on metal off cuts that will allow them to be used without regulatory control a move welcomed by BMRA director general Lindsay Millington.
We are very encouraged by the Ministers response to the industrys concerns and the points raised by Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs in the debate, said Millington. It was reassuring to hear all parties speak with such a unanimous voice about the needs of metal recyclers. We now have a meeting scheduled with the Minister to discuss the industrys concerns about the increasing burden of regulation and the need for a metals taskforce to develop long term strategies.
Cont
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During the debate, Ruddock, credited the metal recycling industry as being vital to our achieving our EU targets on packaging, end-of-life vehicles, batteries and on electrical and electronic equipment. Opposition spokesperson, Anne McIntosh, insisted to the Minister that fully recovered metals must be recognised as a secondary raw material not waste if we are to build on, and not just maintain, the world market export position we enjoy. She went on to say the one-size-fits-all approach to generic waste sites and regulators does not necessarily fit in with the market. We must provide greater clarity and we must remove the confusion and the administrative burden and costs on the industry, adding the new environmental permitting programme and the DEFRA exemption review threaten to add to the regulatory burden.
Commenting on the session, Alan Whitehead MP said: I am delighted with the Ministers response to my debate. I welcome her commitment to the revised EU Waste Framework Directive. The Environment Agency protocol on metal off cuts 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.
As well as meeting with the Environment Minister the BMRA is developing a programme of site visits for members of Parliament and other policymakers to increase awareness of the need for regulation of the metal recycling industry to be more risk-based and proportionate.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
Cont
3.
Notes to editors
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For the full Hansard text of the debate on metal recycling on 22 April 2008 visit http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansard/cm080422/hallindx/80422-x.htm
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
RECYCLING MINISTER TO FACE MPS FOLLOWING BMRA CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR METAL RECYCLERS
22nd April 2008
Waste s policies affecting metal recycling on 22 April, in a parliamentary debate secured by Dr Alan Whitehead MP, co-chair of the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group, following a meeting with the British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA).
Whitehead was one of a group of six MPs and two Peers who met with members of the BMRA board and its director general Lindsay Millington to discuss challenges facing the metal recycling industry. In a two hour session they covered topics ranging from the need for Europe to redefine scrap metal as a valuable secondary raw material to the need to streamline regulation.
The meeting, which was hosted by Jessica Morden MP and Adrian Bailey MP of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Steel and Metal Related Industries, forms part of a BMRA programme to build partnerships with national and international policymakers whose work impacts on the metal recycling industry. Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA explained: We were delighted to have such a strong attendance from MPs and Peers at the lunch. Everyone who attended has already promised to visit some of our sites, and we are planning a variety of other actions with them to follow up the industrys concerns.
Cont
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Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Adrian Bailey MP said: The meeting with the British Metal Recycling Association was extremely useful and highlighted a number of issues that are important to the industry and sustainability. I look forward to future meetings with the BMRA combining members from all parties with a view to see how best to pursue the issues in Westminster and Europe.
In his House of Commons debate with Joan Ruddock, the Minister responsible for waste and recycling policy, Alan Whitehead MP plans to raise questions about the problems the industry is facing in relation to export regulation the classification of recycled metals as waste the recovery of residual materials that arise from metal recycling and the review of exemptions currently being undertaken by Defra. He will also focus on the achievements of the British metal recycling industry in delivering on recycling targets, such as those relating to the End of Life Vehicle Directive, and in reducing CO2 emissions.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered metals.
BMRA MEMBERS BID TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S HOSPICES
26th March 2008
Press release
March 2008
Members of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) put valuables under the hammer at the recent Annual Dinner, raising nearly 7,000 for the Association of Childrens Hospices (ACH).
President of the BMRA, Peter Brookes, met with staff from the Association of Childrens Hospices at his local childrens hospice, Acorns in Birmingham, to present a cheque for 6,702.
The money will be used by the Association of Childrens Hospices to improve the provision of childrens hospice services throughout the UK. An estimated 20,000 children in the UK are not expected to reach adulthood and the ACH is dedicated to improving the lives of these children and their families.
Picture caption (left-right): James Elliott, Corporate Assistant, Acorns Childrens Hospice Tracy Tait, Fundraising Officer, Association of Childrens Hospices Peter Brookes, President of the BMRA.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Nick Hulme
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail rt@pelicanpr.co.uk
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered metals.
BMRA LAUNCHES HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPAIGN
18th March 2008
PRESS RELEASE
18 March 2008
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has adopted a ten point action plan to help improve health and safety within the metals recycling sector and is issuing a series of safety posters which tackle the main causes of accident and injury.
According to a recent BMRA survey, the main causes of accident and injury are: contact with moving machinery or material being machined being hit by moving, falling or flying objects slips, trips and falls being hit by a moving vehicle falls from heights and being hit by something fixed or stationary.
BMRA spokesperson Howard Bluck said: The new posters will help BMRA members to communicate clearly with staff about the most common causes of injury and the hazards that employees need to be aware of. Information is key to the creation of a safer workplace, which is why we are issuing eight posters over the course of 2008.
This latest health and safety drive complements the BMRAs existing health and safety training materials which are available free to members. They include a comprehensive training manual, web-based resources and helpline. The BMRA also offers sector-specific Health and Safety Passport training courses to all its members.
BMRA members can obtain health and safety resources by visiting www.recyclemetals.org or by contacting Howard Bluck or Ken Mackenzie on 01480 455249.
ENDS
Cont.
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BMRA LAUNCHES HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPAIGN
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Nick Hulme
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail rt@pelicanpr.co.uk
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered metals.
RECYCLED METAL DESERVES TO BE RECOGNISED AS RAW MATERIAL SAYS MP
11th March 2008
The co-chair of the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resources Group has backed the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) in its drive to get processed scrap metal redefined as a secondary raw material, after visiting metal recycling sites in the West Midlands.
Dr Alan Whitehead MP, visited Dunn Brothers, Metal and discussed the metal recyclers views on the issues facing their industry.
Commenting on his experience, Dr Whitehead said: It was great to visit three successful companies in the Midlands that do this important work and to see the technology they are using. I have been actively pursuing reforms to waste treatment that properly classify secondary raw materials as not being waste. Recycled metal in most cases fits this description and really deserves to be recognised as such. I strongly support the industrys case for reform under EU law. This will help the industry escape unnecessary regulation and continue to grow to be able to meet ever more demanding targets.
Lindsay Millington, director general of the BMRA, said the visits were organised as part of the BMRAs ongoing work with UK and European politicians involved with trade, industry and sustainability issues. This day was a very valuable exercise for all involved. It gave us an opportunity to discuss matters affecting the metals recycling industry such as the trade barriers caused by the EUs trans-frontier
shipment regulations and the burden placed on sites by ever-increasing regulation. We were able to show Dr Whitehead how important metal recyclers are to the UKs ability to meet European targets and the developments that are being made to separate and market not just metals but recyclable plastics and other materials from vehicles, WEEE and other products. It was good to hear he was convinced of the strategic value that metal recycling has to the UK economy and the environment.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Jill Palmer or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
NEW LEGISLATION WILL NOT STOP THEFTS, WARNS BMRA
28th January 2008
PRESS RELEASE
28 January 2008
The BMRA (British Metals Recycling Association) has responded to calls for increased metals recycling regulation by warning that new rules would not help to stamp out metals thefts.
The recent increase in metals thefts is a problem, both for the community and for the metal recycling industry, with some BMRA members reporting a theft every day. But each licensed metal recycling site already has to comply with more than 20 individual sets of legislation. These include at least 15 strands of environmental regulation as well as employment law, health and safety requirements and the Scrap Metal Dealers Act.
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act requires the name, address and vehicle registration of people selling metal, no matter how small the value, to be recorded when material is weighed-in at sites. This means that vendors of suspicious material can be tracked.
Commenting on the issue BMRA director general Lindsay Millington said: Thefts are a serious problem for us as an industry.
She added: Metals recycling is already one of the UKs most heavily regulated sectors and further legislation would only serve to encourage more illegal and unlicensed trading of metals.
We are working closely with all relevant authorities on this issue including the Environment Agency, Defra, the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the British Transport Police and local police forces to quantify the issue and find solutions that are proportionate to the size of the problem.
The BMRA also operates a stolen metals alert which notifies all members of thefts within 24 hours. This deters thieves and can lead to stolen material being recovered. Anyone who has had metals stolen can set up an alert on www.recyclemetals.org
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006 the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered ferrous (iron and steel) metal and approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-ferrous metal (such as aluminium and copper).
For further information contact:
Richard Truman or Jill Palmer
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail: jill.palmer@pelicanpr.co.uk
BMRA PRESIDENT SAYS IT’S TIME FOR UK TO GEAR UP
3rd December 2007
The metals recycling industry is on the up, according to Peter Brookes, president of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), and its time for UK politicians to acknowledge the key role metal recyclers are playing in the UKs ability to hit European Directive targets on waste.
Speaking at the BMRAs annual dinner in Birmingham, Mr Brookes told his audience of nearly 500 metal recyclers that 2007 had been a good year for the industry: the UK now recovers close to 15 million tonnes of metal every year, and only Russia and the USA are significantly ahead in terms of exports of recovered ferrous metals. The UK is Europes largest exporter of ferrous, trading 4.4 million tonnes of the total 10 million tonnes sold beyond European borders in the last year.
His message to politicians was that metals recycling needs to be recognised as making a unique contribution to the UK economy, to the future of the environment, and the nations ability to meet European Waste Directive targets.
On the back of this he raised concerns about the creeping bureaucratisation and over-regulation that is hampering BMRA members businesses, stating that the average site now has to juggle between 15 and 20 different strands of environmental regulation.
The audience was reminded of the scale of the contribution that metals recycling makes to the UKs environmental and economic performance five billion food and beverage cans are recovered annually all waste electronic and electrical equipment contains metal that can be recovered, and some 2 million cars are recovered, processed and shredded every year producing 1.5 million tonnes of recovered metal more than any other country in the EU. Moreover, the UK metals recycling industry was recycling virtually all used automotive batteries even before the EU introduced its battery directive.
Closing his address, Peter Brookes said: In coming years recovery and recycling of metals will be critical to the UKs success in achieving a sustainable future. Now is the time to gear up to take advantage of the environmental and economic advantages presented by metals recovery. Time for politicians and the metals recycling industry to work together to get infrastructure and legislation right the BMRA will be lobbying for this change.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered metals.
For further information contact:
Richard Truman or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail rt@pelicanpr.co.uk
METALS INDUSTRY JOINS FORCES WITH POLICE ON THEFTS
17th September 2007
The recycled metals industry has joined forces with the police as part of a plan to stem recent increases in metal thefts.
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has announced that it is working with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to combat the problem.
Recent high prices for traded metals have resulted in an increase in thefts, with some high profile cases. It is a particular problem for the BMRA, as members sites have been the target of thefts.
BMRA director general Lindsay Millington said: Thefts have been a growing problem for our members: their sites have been targeted and they need to be sure they are buying legitimate material.
With this in mind we are doing everything we can within our own industry and with other interested parties including ACPO to reduce metal thefts.
Commenting on the news, ACPO chair Ashley Croft said: The theft of metals is a significant problem across most of the UK. Together with the BMRA we are exploring how we can work closely in an effective and productive way and I look forward developing relationships further with the recycling industry.
In addition, the BMRA runs a stolen metals bulletin to alert all members of known thefts within 24 hours of being notified. It also produces information for members to help them identify stolen materials and encourages anyone who has information about stolen metals to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
The BMRA is also urging industries which use metals, such as construction, to protect metals in the same way they would any other high-value asset.
Notes to editors
1. The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) represents the 5 billion UK metals recycling industry.
2. The BMRAs 300 members include large and small businesses in the ferrous and non-ferrous sectors including shredder operators, merchants and traders.
3. Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production.
4. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives such as end-of-life vehicles and packaging.
5. In 2006, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of recovered metals.
For further information contact:
Richard Truman or Michael Bennett
Pelican Public Relations Ltd
Tel: 01457 820807
Fax: 01457 820824
E-mail rt@pelicanpr.co.uk
Metal recyclers support NSPCC
28th February 2007
Members of the British Metals Recycling Association have donated 5,589.80 to the NSPCC, raised through a draw and champagne auction at the recent BMRA Dinner. The cheque was presented to Mrs Jan Goosey, Corporate The market has been good for most of us in the metal recycling industry over the past year, said Peter Brookes. We feel its important to give something back. BMRA members have a strong record in charitable giving: last year we were able to donate 65,000 to two childrens hospitals, following a sponsored climb of Kilimanjaro.
Jan said she had particularly welcomed the opportunity of a site visit and commented NSPCC relies upon donations such as these for over 85% of our income so this is a fantastic boost to our fundraising and we are very grateful to BMRA for supporting our work with children and young people.
ENDS
Notes for editors.
The British Metals Recycling Association represents the 3.5 billion UK metals recycling industry. Its 300 members include large and small, ferrous and non ferrous, businesses and include shredder operators, merchants and traders.
Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives on end-of-life vehicles, packaging etc.
In 2005 the UK industry exports were: 6.1 mt ferrous and approx. 1 mt non-ferrous. Further statistics are available.
For further information contact:
Lindsay Millington, Director General,
British Metals Recycling Association,
16 High Street,
Brampton,
Cambs. PE28 4TU
01480 455249
Metal recyclers call for a better balance between economic prosperity and environmental protection
30th November 2006
Metal recycling is a long-established, globally competitive industry. But the sheer plethora of regulation it now has to deal with is an increasing problem, particularly for smaller sites.
Speaking to a packed hall at the British Metals Recycling Association annual dinner, BMRA President Peter Brookes reminded government that metals recycling was established, and delivering environmental efficiencies such as the saving of natural resources and reduced energy, air pollution and water use, long before the EU introduced its environmental policies.
Moreover, since metal is the major material in nearly all these products, EU and UK targets for the sustainable use of resources through the recovery of end-of-life vehicles, packaging, waste electrical and electronic goods and batteries cannot be achieved without our industry, he added.
BMRA believes a better balance can be achieved through a more coherent, simplified and industry-focussed approach to regulation. This issue will continue to be high on the agenda in our discussions with government in the coming months, Brookes said.
Metal recyclers welcome WEEE timetable, but questions remain
27th July 2006
Responding to publication of DTIs consultation on UK implementation of the WEEE Directive, the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has welcomed the clear implementation dates set out in the papers, but warns that a number of questions remain unanswered for metal recyclers.
Without a timetable, it was impossible to plan said Lindsay Millington, BMRAs director general. Its also good to have confirmation that established operators will not need an additional licence to treat WEEE and that the Environment Agency wont be monitoring WEEE treatment compliance until producer responsibility is fully in place in July 2007
However, our members already recycle most of the heavy WEEE, such as large domestic appliances, and its difficult to forecast how the new Designated Collection Facilities network will affect established supply chains, particularly for smaller sites. The newly collected WEEE, whether small domestic or electronic, will all have metallic content - but we dont yet have data on likely volumes, particularly for non-ferrous metals. It will also be some time before we have producer information about the materials and hazardous substances contained in products, which we need to plan effective separation and develop market solutions.
We will be working closely with DTI to resolve these issues, and also to ensure that the evidence collection arrangements, which rely heavily on treatment operators, recyclers and materials exporters, are properly road-tested and viable.
ENDS
The British Metals Recycling Association represents the 3.5 billion UK metals recycling industry. Its 300 members include large and small, ferrous and non ferrous, businesses and include shredder operators, merchants and traders.
Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives on end-of-life vehicles, packaging etc.
For further information contact:
Lindsay Millington, Director General,
British Metals Recycling Association,
16 High Street,
Brampton,
Cambs. PE28 4TU
01480 455249
Industry carries the cost as tyres are banned
14th July 2006
Article appeared in MRW 28 July 2006
One of the final provisions of UK implementation of the EU Landfill Directive bans the sending of shredded tyres to landfill, from mid-July. As a result, BMRA shredder operators have announced that they can no longer accept tyres for shredding, unless by prior arrangement. Unlike the other components that have to be removed from end of life vehicles during authorised depollution, tyres are non-hazardous. So, it is perfectly legal to put tyres through the shredder with other non-hazardous parts of the vehicle.
The shredder process, in addition to reducing cars and other products to fragmented pieces, also separates out the marketable material notably the ferrous and non-ferrous metals which comprise at least 75% of vehicle feed. However, whilst processes to separate shredded tyre have been developed, markets have proved scarce. The common practice has therefore been to send shredded tyre to landfill, along with other unusable shredder residue. That option is no longer available, now the ban has come in, so shredder operators are now refusing to accept tyres unless they have found other markets.
They are also clamping down on suppliers found concealing tyres in loads or bales. We dont expect ELV authorised treatment facilities to be doing this, but because there is still no water-tight DVLA certificate of destruction process in place, it remains too easy for vehicles to be taken off the road without notification, and until this is sorted out there will continue to be illegal operators in the supply chain.
The limited market for tyres, whether whole or shredded, is why metal recycling merchants and vehicle dismantlers were delivering tyres to shredders in the first place. BMRA has recently checked out twenty-eight names from the DTIs list of tyre re-processors and collectors, but so far we have identified only six companies with real capacity to take the additional volume that was previously going through the shredder process. This raises concerns not only about capacity but also about the cost of collection, which is already rising. These are problems which affect businesses throughout our membership, not just the shredder operators.
The volume of new tyres entering the market will be sizeable. It is estimated that some 2.2 million cars are scrapped in the UK every year and, allowing that some tyres will go for re-treading, around 6 million tyres are discarded. WRAP picked up the problem in April 2005, noting that the disposal of used tyres in the UK is a significant problem.
Earlier this year the Environment Agency approved the use of used whole and shredded tyres for landfill engineering purposes, for instance as part of a leachate collection system. This recovery use is allowed because the tyres displace the use of raw materials such as primary aggregates. Cement kilns can use tyres for energy recovery. Otherwise, most markets are for shredded or crumbed tyres and many of these, such as sports surfaces and computer mouse mats, are markets which are only just emerging. Most of these options involve substituting tyres for other materials already established for that use, and any such development relies on commercial decisions so they are only likely to be favoured if tyres provide particular cost benefits. Government supported encouragement for such initiatives is low key and very recent such as WRAPs support programme for plant, equipment and infrastructure projects to increase recycling of used tyres, which will start to consider applications at the end of July too little and too late to meet this years needs.
The tyre issue is driven, like many other situations, by Europe. On the one hand end of life vehicles legislation requires that tyres be removed and collected during the depollution process. On the other, the Landfill Directive singles out tyres as a volume product, which, whilst not harmful to the environment if left in the ground, should be reused or recovered. However, unlike metals, the 78% rubber content of tyres cannot be melted down to make new rubber, so the recovery choices are energy or unrelated products, the market for which is still not fully developed. Once again we seem to have a situation where market development is out of kilter with the good intentions of Europe and once again Industry is bearing the cost.
Lindsay Millington, Director General, British Metals Recycling Association
A Bright Future for Metals - BMRA Report from AGM
14th July 2006
The world market for metal scrap looks set for further increase, according to speakers at the British Metal Recycling Associations annual meeting.
Electric arc steelmaking, the main market for ferrous scrap, has been growing at around 5% per annum over the past ten years. In 2005 world EAF production topped 360 million tonnes, some 32% of global steel production. 2006 could be a record year, with UK exports higher than the record 7.2 million tonnes exported in 2003 said Steve Mackrell of the statistics bureau ISSB. The UK is the fifth largest exporting country for ferrous scrap, behind the US, Russia, Japan and Germany.
2006 is also proving a good year for non ferrous metals. Whilst India has been a very important market for some years now, it is Chinese demand that is supporting the high volumes we are experiencing at present said Michael Oppenheimer, of Mountstar Metal Corporation, adding that recent trading had been possibly the best five months in non-ferrous scrap history.
BMRAs Director General, Lindsay Millington, commented that Market prospects are looking good for our industry. But buoyant markets can also bring problems. Credit insurance limits are not keeping pace with higher prices whilst increased cash handling means our members have greater exposure to currency fluctuations. The recent BIR conference in Beijing indicated that these are world-wide problems, restricting the volumes that traders can handle, at a time when purchasing volumes are at record level.
ENDS
Notes for editors.
The British Metals Recycling Association represents the 3.5 billion UK metals recycling industry. Its 300 members include large and small, ferrous and non ferrous, businesses and include shredder operators, merchants and traders.
Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives on end-of-life vehicles, packaging etc.
In 2005 the UK industry exports were: 6.1 mt ferrous and approx. 1 mt non-ferrous. Further statistics are available.
For further information contact:
Lindsay Millington, Director General,
British Metals Recycling Association,
16 High Street,
Brampton,
Cambs. PE28 4TU
01480 455249
Shredder Operators to Refuse Tyres
28th June 2006
One of the final provisions of UK implementation of the EU Landfill Directive bans the sending of shredded tyres to landfill, from mid July. Shredder operators, working through their trade association the British Metals Recycling Association, have announced that from 7 July 2006 they will no longer accept tyres for shredding. The only exception will be where there is an identified end-market and the operator agrees in advance to take delivery of the tyres.
There will also be a crack down on illegal operators who flout the end-of-life vehicle regulations requirement that tyres must be removed as part of the depollution process. BMRA shredder operators have agreed a common position that suppliers found to deliberately conceal tyres in loads or bales will not be tolerated, and defaulters may find themselves banned.
BMRA Director General, Lindsay Millington, commented Our Shredder Operators feel it is important to take a responsible position, and we are working closely with the Environment Agency towards a very significant reduction of tyres in shredder waste. However we will only achieve complete eradication when all the loopholes are closed to prevent illegal ELV activity. We are therefore also working on a longer term action plan with government partners towards this goal.
BMRA is in discussion with DTI and Environment Agency staff about alternative options for the disposal of whole tyres, including tyre collection facilities. We are told that a range of options is available, although we remain concerned about market capacity and the effect that the new situation may have on costs for our members.
ENDS
The British Metals Recycling Association represents the 3.5 billion UK metals recycling industry. Its 300 members include large and small, ferrous and non ferrous, businesses and include shredder operators, merchants and traders.
Metals recycling is a globally competitive and environmentally important industry. It supplies secondary raw material, which preserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions in metals production. Approximately 60% of UK recycled metal is exported. Recycling of metals is also the major contributor to the UKs achievement of targets under EU Directives on end-of-life vehicles, packaging etc.
For further information contact:
Lindsay Millington, Director General,
British Metals Recycling Association,
16 High Street,
Brampton,
Cambs. PE28 4TU
01480 455249
MRW Interview with BMRA Director General, Lindsay Millington
9th June 2006
Lindsay Millington has been director general of the British Metals Recycling Association since September last year. Paul Sanderson went to meet her to find out how she is getting on in her new job
The metal recycling industry has, perhaps unfairly, been viewed as a bit backward, contributing little to the UK economy.
But British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) director general Lindsay Millington makes it clear that she wants people to recognise the importance of metal recycling to the UK.
I want to raise the profile of our members, she says, to show that it is an industry and that we are part of a successful manufacturing industry in this country.
Metals recycling is a competitive industry worth 3.5 billion a year. It provides over 8,000 jobs in the UK and processes 13 million tonnes of metal each year.
She talks of the cookie dough argument. By this she means that when baking, you roll out the dough and then cut out the shapes. Then you take what dough is left over and roll it out again to re-use. She says that metal recycling is no different - it is taking what is left over and turning it into a re-useable resource. And she believes, that the importance of this manufacturing process needs to be recognised more by Government and the general public.
However, she also suggests that legislation is in danger of strangling the industry.
Weve got an industry that has existed for considerably over 100 years. As I look at it now and compare it with other sectors of the wider metals industry, metal recycling is subject to more legislation.
Ive had to adjust to that. Most of it begins in Europe. So as an organisation we are spending a lot of time looking at the European Union thematic strategies and then how this is transposed into UK law.
Weve been involved in the transposition and have looked at how these are implemented for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive, End-of-Life Vehicle directive and Packaging directive into UK law. Then, we have had to look at how our 300 members participate in that.
But this has also needed dialogue with the Environment Agency (EA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). All of this is happening while our members are trying to run a commercial industry where 50 to 60% of their products are going to export.
Even before all of this legislation, we were still environmentally friendly. About 43% of steel and 39% of aluminium comes from recycled materials. So using these recycled materials benefits the environment saving raw materials such as bauxite or iron ore, energy use is less recycling the materials and it also leads to less CO2 equivalent emissions.
She adds that the metals recycling industry is hit by almost every EU directive on sustainable materials including WEEE, ELV, batteries and lots of others because the main material is often metal. For her, the importance of metal recycling is often under-estimated.
We [the metals industry] are the main contributor to meeting EU recycling targets.
But Millington believes the recycling industry as a whole has got unduly caught up in trying to define waste.
There are opportunities now through the EU Framework Directive to class materials not as waste, but as a secondary raw materials. The Italian government has pre-empted this and there metals are seen as a secondary raw material.
If we are seen as a commercial industry by processing secondary raw material that benefits the local economy, then this would help with things such as planning permission. But instead people have to apply for a waste licence and this is seen as a bad thing by local people.
When it comes to discussing the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), she chooses her words carefully. She is aware that many of her members resent the fact that it is a bone of contention in the metal recycling industry that when WRAPs programmes focussed on recycling of specific materials under its last business plan, metal was not one of them. But equally, she wants to make it clear that WRAP has had some benefits.
Industry as a whole needs support and it is an area where WRAP is doing some good. But more could happen especially when it comes to the promotion of what happens in recycling.
The public dont understand that metal is the most recycled metal in the world. As I have already said, there is a good green message from metals and WRAP could promote this. As an industry, we need to promote this message and WRAP could help us do that.
She adds that the metal industry needs extra support from the likes of WRAP and other similar organisations because more often than not, BMRA members end up processing other materials as well.
Take an end-of-life vehicle. Around 75% of this is metal and most of this ends up in one of our members yards. So for the remaining 25%, our companies are looking for markets for other materials. This is where WRAP and the Government could help at a greater level.
We would like more recognition from the Government that our industry is bearing the brunt of this, especially in markets that arent financially viable.
Millington cites the example of shredded tyres, which many of her members end up dealing with when they process dead old banger cars.
WRAP is looking at new markets for shredded tyres. But it is a pity it didnt start earlier. There is a ban on shredded tyres from July, but no solution to the problem yet.
Anyone reading the materials prices pages in MRW over many months would see a pattern emerging where traders complain that there isnt much material available to take advantage of high metals prices. But this is a scenario she doesnt accept.
It isnt something we hear about of shortage of supply. Sectors such as demolition and construction will always be cyclical. And the steel industry also has large annual cycles. The amount of ferrous scrap produced is not down on last year. Some more will come through domestic collections and this could increase amount.
While there is demand at present from China and India, there is equally strong demand in the UK. Around 2.5 million tonnes of ferrous was supplied to steel works in the UK and about 6 million overseas last year. The UK market is self-sufficient, so overseas markets are good for us. We expect demand to grow over the next 10 to 15 years.
She also argues against the common perception that UK manufacturing is disappearing.
There is investment in UK steel plants for example. Corus in Rotherham, Alpha in Gwent, Celsa in Cardiff and Thames Steel in Kent have all invested in their plants to feed the need for more products.
One thing in particular she is keen to stress, is that metal would always have been recycled whether there had been EU directives or not.
Where the metals have value, whether it is in mobile phones or aircraft, it will be recycled. EU directives are about showing materials can be recycled. But metal can be recycled and will be recycled. The only case where this wasnt the case was in the Packaging directive.
This was not because of our industry but because local authorities were sending metals to landfill. Our industry would have recycled it, but local authorities just sent it. This is changing now.
She says that all too often, legislation has vastly favoured the environmental aspects of recycling over the financial viability of the industry.
There could have been more balance between the commercial industry and the environmental. Balance has been almost all environmental.
An example of this, according to Millington, has been depollution of end-of-life vehicles. She argues fuel would have been drained from these cars anyway because it has value and can be re-used.
But there has been lots of cost in building de-pollution rigs and we are still negotiating with EA on when a car becomes an ELV.
Our members are all legal, but it has been too easy for illegal operators to take cars and bale them up. The destruction system by the DVLA isnt robust and invites illegal operators. On the face of it, the environmental benefits of this legislation have looked good and ticked all the right boxes, but from the other side, there arent significant benefits that outweigh the costs.
The next challenges she faces are progressing dialogue with the UK Government and the EU to ensure better commercial balance, in particular when it comes to implementing the WEEE directive in this country. She is pleased implementation was delayed and wants to see it done correctly and effectively. WEEE, she makes clear, is another directive that will place a burden on her members with materials other than metals.
It is clear, this is a battle she intends to fight to ensure her members are not hard done by.
Notes: Lindsay Millington has spent most of her working life in membership organisations. She set up Metskill in 1990 to boost skills and qualifications in the metals industry as well as liaise with the Government and aid the building of bridges between Government and the metals industry. Last September, she became director general of the BMRA after the post was held for a short period by Rick Wilcox and before that Neil Marshall.
Paul Sanderson, Editor, MRW Tel: 020 8277 5537 www.mrw.co.uk