Look beyond the tonnage

A few weeks ago, I found myself staring at yet another export licence application. Months of paperwork. Thousands of pounds in fees. Endless supporting documents. Then silence.

The UK authorities can’t provide answers because the application sits with their European counterparts. The European authorities can’t provide updates because the systems don’t properly communicate. The material is legitimate. The destination is legitimate. The environmental outcome is legitimate.

Yet, nine months later, you’re still waiting. And the frustrating reality is that everyone involved is trying to do the right thing.

This has become a recurring theme in our industry. We talk constantly about innovation, but some of the systems we rely on seem determined to make progress as difficult as possible.

A PENNY DROPPED

Then something happened that reminded me why I still love this industry. It had nothing to do with regulation, permits or policy. It had everything to do with people.

My 21-year-old son never particularly enjoyed school and wasn’t especially enthusiastic about work. Then he became involved in developing our circuit board recycling operation. And suddenly the penny dropped. I watched him become fascinated by something most people would walk straight past.

Not tonnes of metal.

Not giant machines.

Not mountains of scrap.

Circuit boards.

Connectors.

Processors.

Tiny differences between one electronic device and another.

What surprised me most was how quickly he grasped that not all electronics are created equal.

I grew up in a recycling world where success was often measured in tonnes. A full trailer. A bigger shear. A larger stockpile. Watching the next generation is different.

They can spend 20 minutes studying a handful of high-grade circuit boards and create more value than moving several tonnes of low-grade material. It’s because knowledge has become as important as weight.

It reminded me of another young man who turned up looking for work. By traditional standards, he probably wasn’t what many employers look for. We took a chance on him.

Within days, he was identifying high-value circuit boards more accurately than people with years of experience. Within a year he was training others, and the value he was pulling from the incoming stream more than paid for itself.

STOP AND LISTEN

It taught me the people who can do this work are already out there. We have just been screening them out. And I found myself wondering whether we’ve been asking the wrong questions about the next generation. That requires a different way of thinking. It also requires a degree of humility.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned recently is that experience still matters, but experience alone is no longer enough.

The products arriving at our facilities are changing faster than ever before. Electric vehicles, batteries, consumer electronics and increasingly sophisticated products are creating opportunities that simply didn’t exist 20 years ago. The next generation may not know everything.

But in some areas, they may already know more than we do. That’s not something to fear; it’s something to embrace.

So if you are running a yard today, look again at your job specs, the people you turn away, and who you let near the incoming stream.

The future of recycling won’t be built by people who think exactly like the generations before them. It will be built by people who see value where others don’t.

And if we’re smart enough to listen, they might just show us where the industry goes next.