Page 33 from: April 2012

33April 2012

which simultaneously improves the economy.

Considering the noteworthy social benefit that

is at stake, it isn’t surprising to find that reve-

nues from recycling are not only substantial but

also are growing rapidly. The EEA study shows

that, from 2004 to 2008, turnover in the seven

main categories of recyclables increased by

almost 100% to the sum of Euro 60 billion (US$

79 billion). Due to chaos across the financial

landscape, turnover in the recycling industries

showed a sharp decline at the end of 2008,

although it recovered remarkably in the second

half of 2009 and beyond.

The Asia factor
Meanwhile, global demand for secondary mate-

rials keeps growing, especially in booming

Asian economies. This has boosted European

recycling figures considerably, again resulting

in elevated raw materials prices. In addition to

this, Asian industries consuming recyclables

have recovered faster from the violent econom-

ic downturn than those situated in Europe. In

turn, this has resulted in a fairly substantial

number of manufacturing jobs moving outside

the EU since the onset of the global economic

and financial crisis in September 2008.

However, demand is not the only factor shaping

the recycling landscape. On the supply side, there

has been an obvious increase in the amount of

recyclables collected separately or sorted from

mixed waste that are made available to the mar-

ket. In the period 2004-2009, the volumes of the

seven main recyclable groups entering the mar-

ket grew by at least 15%. This change can be

partly attributed to the EU’s keen and proactive

attitude towards waste-related regulations, such

as the landfill, e-scrap, packaging and end-of-life

vehicle directives, to name but a few. In establish-

ing these directives, the EU wishes to create

an obligation to recycle or recover a maximum

proportion of materials from the waste.

Ripple effect
Further economic ripples are made by the plen-

tiful technical innovations that are currently

crowding the sector. ‘Of course, as we require

more complex technology, we require more

educated employees,’ Mr Fischer reasons. In

direct relation to this, salaries in the recycling

industry are recorded as being much higher on

average than those in the landfill sector, for

example, ‘because all the intricate work that

needs to be done automatically adds value to

both the products and the people involved in

the production process’.

A recent US study points out that recycling has

roughly twice the economic impact of burying

the same amount of material in landfills, calcu-

lating that recycling 900 kg of waste, for exam-

ple, will pay around Euro 77 more in wages than

disposing of it in a dump. And so it is clear

to see that moving up the waste hierarchy

– from landfilling towards recycling – creates jobs

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