Environment

The government is meeting aluminium industry stakeholders today (23 April) to explore ways to increase recycling and recovery of metal packaging.

Waste minister Joan Ruddock said the UK was failing to capitalise on the high recyclability of aluminium because it was difficult to capture drinks cans consumed and disposed of away from home.

Speaking at a private members debate in Westminster Hall, Ruddock said yesterday that she was "determined to do better on dealing with such metal packaging".

Southampton MP Alan Whitehead secured the debate because of concerns in the metal recycling sector over the amount of regulation due to the classification of scrap metal as waste.

The reclassification of scrap metals is under consideration in the European Parliament review of the Waste Framework Directive.

Shadow environment minister Anne McIntosh called for a "less restrictive or more proportionate" definition of waste to support the export market for used metals. "Fully recovered metals must be recognised as a secondary raw material, not waste."
 
McIntosh also criticised the government for not exempting metals from the European Regulations for the Transhipment of Waste, which require countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to confirm they accept "waste" prior to export.

"If the government had opposed these regulations, or sought to revise them, I submit that we would not be in the present position," she said.

Ruddock countered that the government had "taken steps to ensure there is a positive entry of metal to non-OECD countries".

The Waste Framework Directive is due to receive its second plenary reading in the European Parliament in June, but Ruddock admitted there was "some way to go" before it was adopted.