The world consumes ever greater volumes of virgin materials in servicing the demands of a growing population. Extraction rates of virgin materials tripled from 1970 to 2017, and the growth trajectory predicts even pressure on our sustainability.
Many of the worlds natural resources lie outside of the UK controlled by other Nations who we have successively outsourced our manufacturing to. By losing control and security of our supply chains we have become ever more dependent on importation. The risk for supply chain shocks, the like we saw during covid, and the commencement of the Ukraine war, have increased the volatility of price and supply creating difficulties for our remaining manufacturing base.
The Government has rightly highlighted the need for of a coherent industrial strategy to deliver economic growth. I believe that the supply of resources to UK industry needs to be central to this industrial strategy and my hope tis hat the newly established “Circular Taskforce” will address this critical point in its report.
Whilst it is admirable that the Government has begun to address the regulatory inertia suffered since 2018 with the introduction of EPR, DRS and simpler recycling” we continued to be locked into looking at resources through the lens of mainly the domestic waste stream. This is perhaps grounded in the fact we understand and measure this part of waste generation better, but it will not address the loss of valuable secondary raw materials which continues to be contained in our waste stream.
A good example of this point relates to the management of WEEE waste, despite being under an EPR for several years still only achieves a circa 57% capture rate and has seen continued export of these materials containing critical rare resources to both Africa and Asia often at the expense of these areas environmentally and socially.
If we want to develop a coherent and joined up industrial strategy that supports UK industry, then we need to start to embrace the concept of industrial symbiosis where we match the needs of our industry with the available resources many of which are today “LOST” in the inefficiencies of our present system.
The opportunity of capturing and managing these valuable materials for the benefit of UK industry is considerable and could be achieved through a combination of informed regulation but also incentives.
However, we need to leave our outdated and constrained thinking of waste behind if we are ever to realise the enormity of the prize hidden in our waste.
