A study co-funded by BIR and KPMG International Ltd. that will detail the environmental gains achieved worldwide through recycling, providing data to use when advocating for the recycling industry.
During the plenary session of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Valencia, Spain, May 28, the importance of using hard, data-driven facts when advocating on behalf of the industry was stressed by the association’s International Environment Council (IEC).
The session began with an example of how the recycling industry used fact-based advocacy to counter inaccurate arguments made by vested interests seeking export restrictions on recycled steel in Europe. The meeting concluded with a sneak preview of a study co-funded by BIR and KPMG International Ltd. that will detail the environmental gains achieved worldwide through recycling.
IEC Chairman Olivier François, president of Brussels-based EuRIC, opened the meeting by explaining that the EU’s recently unveiled Steel & Metals Action Plan resulted from European consuming industry pressure to keep recycled steel within its borders. Recycling industry representatives had reacted quickly to debunk the following three claims made by those supporting export restrictions: that recycled steel availability was an issue in Europe; that Europe exported its higher-quality recycled steel, leaving lower quality materials for the continent’s own mills; and that Turkish mills bought so much European recycled steel because these purchases attracted government subsidies.
On the first point, François explained that Europe produced 100 million metric tons of recycled steel per year, of which 20 million metric tons were exported because European consumption was around 80 million metric tons. “That’s just a fact,” he told delegates.
As for the second point, it was “absolutely wrong” and was backed by EU customs statistics, he said, which showed that lower grades of recycled steel actually represented 70 percent of the exports.
The last point had been refuted by Turkish authorities, François said.
A decision on the next step in this export debate would be taken shortly and, hopefully, the recycling industry’s compelling counter-arguments would be taken into account and free trade would be maintained for recycled steel, he added. If tariffs, for example, were to be imposed on shipments outside the EU, the market would readjust, however Europe’s recycling industry would not buy roughly 20 million metric tons of metallic material with high residue/cost implications such as car hulks, creating problems for a wide range of stakeholders, including municipalities and car manufacturers.
“Everything you outlined are the arguments we’re hearing with regard to copper in the U.S.,” added Robin Wiener, president of the Recycled Materials Association, based in Washington.
She added that European recycled steel export restrictions would impact everyone, therefore it was “so critical that we all work together to help each other.”
François also noted a “historic moment” in the decarbonisation and circular economy debate. A public consultation had been launched (closing July 8) to recast the European Trading System, and Europe’s recycling associations would you this opportunity to press for an end to “the complete separation of decarbonization regulations/organization in Europe and the circular economy,” he said.
The IEC chairman then identified the upcoming BIR/KPMG publication as “absolutely key to showing the politicians that this connection between the circular economy and decarbonization must be done.”
Stéphanie Grandjean Mateos and Mina Bishop, director and senior manager of circular economy respectively at KPMG France’s ESG Centre of Excellence, then provided an update on the “Environmental Benefits of Recycling” study, which was in its “final stages” prior to release.
Bishop said the report would be significantly wider in scope than its predecessors released in 2008 and 2016. The number of recycled materials addressed had been increased to 10, and key performance indicators had been extended so that coverage now encompassed CO2 emission savings, energy savings, water savings, raw material savings and land use savings or ozone depletion.
The information was drawn from a wide range of sources and based on actual market data/realities, Grandjean Mateos added.
Picking up on the earlier comment from François about recasting the European Trading System, she said the “Environmental Benefits of Recycling” study showed a clear link between decarbonization and recycling/the circular economy and spotlighted some “really impressive” figures for all 10 materials covered.
Cameron Leitch, policy and sustainability manager at the British Metals Recycling Association, suggested the report would have multiple benefits. “Governments believe the best form of policymaking is predicated on robust, data-driven insights,” he said. Also, “the recycling sector and operators within it are being asked by suppliers and customers for environmental data on an increasing basis.”
He added, “There are going to be certain sectors that are going to be lobbying for certain activities that really diminish the role of recycled materials, and that’s where we have to use reports like this.”
BIR Director General Arnaud Brunet said the high level of anticipation surrounding publication of the report was justified. “The numbers are very big—very big—and very interesting.”