Market slowdown hits waste plans

Falkirk Council is urging householders to continue recycling paper and plastic despite the collapse of a deal to sell the material to a private contractor.

The local authority had been due to sell its 12,000 tonnes of waste, generated annually, to Re Gen Waste Ltd for £17.50 per tonne.

However, they will now have to pay a new contractor up to £40 per tonne after the firm pulled out of the deal.

A collapse in the market for dry recyclables globally is being blamed.

Like most local authorities in the UK, Falkirk has been able to move thousands of tonnes of blue bin waste to companies who were in turn selling it for raw materials across the globe.

However, the market in so-called recovered materials has fallen sharply as places such as China suffer the impact of the economic downturn.

"The paper markets have crashed before but the emphasis is going to be about making the best of what we've got"
Robin Baird
Waste strategy co-ordinator

Despite the news, Robin Baird, Falkirk's waste strategy co-ordinator, insisted sending the waste to landfill was not an option.

He said: "The price of sending waste to landfill is set to go up to £48 per tonne, making it a more expensive option than paying to have it processed.

"What we have to remember is that every council in Scotland is committed to recycling and becoming more sustainable in general.

"In the short-term, the material that we are recycling is a limited resource. For example plastic bottles are oil-based. This is a commodity which is finite.

"The paper markets have crashed before but the emphasis is going to be about making the best of what we've got."

'Become valuable'

The issue has prompted some councils in England to begin storing recyclable waste until global markets recover.

In Falkirk, much of the area's unwanted paper ends up in Holland, while aluminium from cans is re-used in Britain.

Mr Baird said: "We look at recycling as a resource, not waste.

"I'm not worried that we will be left with the resource. Perhaps in the short-term it may cost us to process this but it will become valuable again in the longer-term."

Falkirk Council is currently seeking legal advice after Re Gen Waste pulled out of the contract five days after signing it.

Re Gen Waste Ltd declined to comment on the issue.

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