Page 10 from: November/December issue
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New data: the worst recycliNg NatioNs iN the eU?
The European Commission says 14 EU Member States are ‘at risk’ of missing the
mandatory 50% household recycling rate target set for 2020. It has released a new
report ranking the ‘worst recyclers’.
Poland is slowly climbing out of the lower tier of Europe’s recycling ranks. The country cur-
rently recycles almost 45% of its waste while around 35% goes to landfills. This represents
one of the lowest landfilling rates among the 14 low-performing countries. Another exam-
ple of a country on its way up is Finland, which recycles 42% of its post-consumer materials.
As in previous years, Malta is the worst recycler. Its recycling rate is stuck at only 7%,
while 83% of its waste is sent to landfills. Malta thus boasts the lowest recycling rate as
well as the highest landfilling rate.
A close second is Romania (recycling 13% of its waste while landfilling 69%), followed
by Greece (recycling 17% and landfilling over 80%) and Cyprus (recycling 17%, with
75% going to landfill).
Estonia is a remarkable case. The country may not being doing brilliantly in terms of
recycling (28%) but it manages to landfill only 10% of its material. The EU points out
that Estonia still incinerates far more than it recycles. Spain and Portugal recycled
around 31% of their material while landfilling 57% and 45% respectively. Hungary recy-
cled 35% and landfilled 51% of its post-consumer materials.
‘None of these countries is set to hit the EU recycling targets for 2020 as they current-
ly stand,’ says Adrian Gibbs, principal consultant at Eunomia, the consultancy firm that
produced the report. The EU has compiled advice for each country and it is hoped
these proposed changes may help boost recycling rates just in time.
FUtUre recovery: e-car batteries will deliver
billioNs iN recycled metals
Metals worth more than US$ 20 billion (EUR 17 billion) will be extracted from
electric car batteries every year 2028, according to Berenberg research. Three mil-
lion electric cars were on our roads last year and that could increase to 125 million
by 2030. Sales of e-cars in China represented half of the one million e-vehicles
sold globally in 2017. Based on this trend, Berenberg expects metals recovered
from spent car battery cells to be worth US$22 billion a year within a decade.
This benefit is because of strong demand for the battery materials lithium and
cobalt. Cobalt prices have virtually doubled in the last two years with supply con-
centrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Established recyclers may seem to have a head start, says Berenberg, but Chinese
battery leaders ‘can win the recycling race’. It points out that China has subsidised
electric vehicles and promoted companies like battery manufacturer CATL. Beijing
is also pressing for sales of e-cars vehicles to touch seven million by 2025.
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Baxi: we are a step closer
to global recycling success
Based on the success of this year’s inau-
gural Global Recycling Day, the event is
being expanded into a full-fledged
Global Recycling Foundation. This
unique, trade-backed, body will pro-
mote the best practices of the interna-
tional recycling community while boost-
ing social engagement and encouraging
businesses to make their own recycling
pledges.
Global Recycling Day 2018 had the sup-
port of ten world leaders as well as 10.5
million social media impressions. ‘We have
truly sparked a movement,’ says an enthu-
siastic Ranjit Baxi, creator of the initiative
and president of the Bureau of
International Recycling (BIR).
But he feels sure more can
be done, preferably year-
round, to ensure recycling
gets the attention it
deserves from consumers,
entrepreneurs and legisla-
tors.
Baxi told delegates of the
BIR gathering in London this
October that he had
secured a meeting with the
United Nations Industrial
Development Organization
(UNIDO) before the end
of the year. Ultimately,
Baxi hopes Global Recycling
Day will become an
official holiday around the
world.
The nine key objectives of
the Global Recycling
Foundation are:
• Support and celebrate
Global Recycling Day on
18 March each year
• Promote recycling as the
‘seventh resource’
• Foster the promotion of
recycling across the world,
and support and share
best practices and innova-
tion
• Protect biodiversity
• Commit to, and promote, eco-responsi-
bility and the circular economy
• Encourage responsible, sustainable and
inclusive environmental actions to the
benefit of ecological developments
• Support statistical, economic and social
studies in the field of recycling.
• Support research and innovation in the
field of recycling.
• Support educational programmes, uni-
versity and scientific research in the field
of recycling.
Baxi also announced that the focus of
Global Recycling Day 2019 would be ‘the
power of youth, education and innova-
tion’. He described the theme as ‘recy-
cling into the future’. The foundation’s
growing team will further boost (online)
engagement with youngsters via social
media posts, blogs and videos.
RECYCLING HIGH SCORE
The latter includes an ice bucket-style chal-
lenge that is hoped to go viral. The chal-
lenge will be linked to next sports – especial-
ly soccer – to encourage people to ‘score’
many recycling points. A potential high pro-
file affiliation with the Johan Cruyff
Foundation (named after the famous Dutch
soccer player/coach) was revealed in London.
‘To truly harness the power of recycling
we must come together to find the most
innovative solutions and ensure we use
these to engage young people across the
globe,’ Baxi said at the BIR assembly. ‘The
youth of today are our future, and we
must ensure they develop a ‘resource, not
waste’ mind-set in to order to look for-
ward to a sustainable future.’
www.globalrecyclingday.com
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