Page 18 from: January / February 2012

18 January/February 2012

The recycling industry has learned – to some extent through painful

experience – that effective representation at the highest decision-

making levels is an absolute must. This article focuses on three

organisations that have become a fixture at top-level meetings in

Europe covering ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, as well as recovered

paper. And as all three agree, for every success there is another challenge.

Students of the world recycling industry will be familiar with the acronyms and abbrevia-
tions EFR, Eurometrec and ERPA. These three

European organisations fulfil absolutely vital roles

in their own fields of, in turn, ferrous scrap, non-

ferrous scrap and recovered paper.

In fact, their contribution to the interests of the

European recycling industry have been so sub-

stantial over the last two decades that their respec-

tive Presidents – namely Tom Bird, Robert Voss

and Merja Helander – are eager for the three bod-

ies to step further into the spotlight to help them

build on the standing they have already developed

among Europe’s law-makers and policy-setters.

EFR, Eurometrec and ERPA are based in Brussels

and focus their attention on European matters.

And this is no small remit given that, over recent

decades, the weight of rules and regulations ema-

nating from the EU authorities in Brussels has

grown exponentially. This Euro-specific repre-

sentation brings benefits all round: legislators at

a European level are more geared towards dealing

with European bodies; and at the same time, the

workload shouldered by EFR, Eurometrec and

ERPA has synergies and overlaps that benefit their

members and their joint secretariat. Clearly, there

are many areas of common interest: for example,

all fight for free and fair trade, and thus against

any measures at national or regional level which

are deemed to be protectionist in their thrust.

Furthermore, the joint secretariat in Brussels

provides the three federations with constant

back-up – an important support system given

that the issues confronting them have become

‘ever more complex’, says Mr Voss who also

runs UK-based Voss International. Eric John-

son, EU Public Affairs Officer, is their primary

contact at the Brussels secretariat.

Issues overlap
There are particularly significant areas of overlap

between EFR and Eurometrec in terms of the

issues they face. On two occasions each year, these

bodies meet both separately and then together to

discuss common issues; at present, for example,

metals theft, fraud and cashless payment systems

are on the joint agenda. ‘Theft is a major problem

in Europe and is taking up a lot of our time,’ notes

Mr Voss. ‘We are looking at cashless payment and

want a level playing field. France introduced cash-

less payment in 2011, but material goes over bor-

ders to places where this does not apply.’

For the different national federations sitting

around the Eurometrec meeting table, the prob-

O R G A N I S A T I O N S By Ian Martin

EFR, Eurometrec and ERPA

Fighting the
recycling industry’s
corner

Eurometrec President Robert
Voss, who also runs UK-based
Voss International.

EFR President Tom Bird, Mana-
ging Director of Van Dalen Recy-
cling in the UK.

Metal theft is a major problem
in Europe and is high on the
joint agenda of EFR and
Eurometrec.

p1 _ – – ro e re .indd 1 23-01-12 0 : 0