Councils deliver recycling success as fears over waste bottlenecks grow

New figures showing that local councils are largely meeting their recycling targets were overshadowed today, by reports that falling commodity prices are beginning to undermine the business model of many recycling firms.

According to reports in today's Times, demand for recycled materials such as plastics, paper and metals has fallen as a result of the economic downturn leading to a slump in the price waste collection firms can get for recyclate.

Many firms and local councils that export waste to China for recycling have opted to try and store the recyclable material in the hope prices will recover, but that has resulted in a shortage of available warehouse space as companies choose to horde mountains of paper, cans and bottles.

The Times claims councils and the recycling sector are now lobbying the government to relax rules governing storage of recyclate to help create more storage space.

Steve Eminton, of letsrecycle.com, told the paper that the low commodity prices and lack of storage space were "becoming a very serious problem”. He added that the problem was also likely to worsen as waste levels soar around Christmas. "Warehouses around Britain could start to be filled with waste paper, metal and plastic bottles," he said. "There's nowhere for these materials to go at the moment."
A spokesman for the Environment Agency hinted that it was considering relaxing the rules to allow more waste to be stored.

"We recognise that these are exceptional market conditions and have potential implications for maintaining waste treatment capacity, achieving recycling targets and avoiding illegal disposal of waste," he said. "We are preparing guidance for our staff and operators on how we can best respond to these challenges to minimise the impact on the environment."

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, a spokeswoman for Defra insisted the government was hopeful the reduced commodity prices represented a short term problem and argued that it was still economically viable for councils to increase levels of recycling.

"Recycling targets still have to be met, and while councils and recyclers are making less money from recycling than they were we are hopeful that prices will recover," she said.

The news came as the government today released new figures showing that UK recycling rates are continuing to climb.

Defra said that nine out of 10 local councils are now meeting or exceeding their recycling targets, while the same proportion collected less black bag waste in 2007/08 than they did the previous year. In addition, nearly three quarters of local authorities sent a lower proportion of the municipal waste they collect to landfill than they did in 2006/07.

Environment minister Jane Kennedy hailed the figures as evidence of "an important achievement, adding that they indicated that "recycling is now part of everyday life in this country".