The Campaign for Real Recycling

Straight plc is a proud founder member of the Campaign for Real Recycling which wants government and local authorities to act urgently to improve the quality of materials collected for recycling in the UK. Real recycling is about maximising the economic, environmental and social benefits of recycling for everyone, from the local council tax payer to the global reprocessing industry.

The press release below was sent out today. We hope the Campaign is successful.

The Campaign for Real Recycling believes everyone involved in recycling will benefit from knowing where they stand with regard to the requirement of the revised Waste Framework Directive for ensuring separate collection of paper, plastic, glass and metal by 2015. CRR believes that it is better that all stakeholders establish together this year, rather than some time in the future, whether the UK's transposition of the rWFD is consistent and lawful, such that everyone can plan for the medium-to-long term.

Accordingly, an application by a representative group of CRR stakeholders for a judicial review of the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 was filed last week in the High Court. In the view of the claimants, these Regulations, which allow full comingling in collections, fail to transpose properly rWFD Article 11 and are therefore not a proper and legal transposition of the rWFD as a whole.

Mal Williams, Chair of CRR, said: “We have not requested this judicial review lightly. We understand the concerns of councils and their service providers. If we are to build an industry that is in step with our European counterparts, capable of maximising value from the UK's waste resources, this is an issue which needs resolving this year.

“Kerbside-sorted recycling collections produce the quality of material favoured by materials reprocessors in the UK and this approach is also consistent with obtaining best value for money. For reasons which will no doubt become apparent to everyone in due course, Defra has not taken the opportunity to enact regulation consistent with these facts or in our view with the wording of the WFD. Given that, obtaining clarity in this matter unfortunately requires us to resort to legal action, but that clarity is surely something to be welcomed by all parties in our industry.

“Regardless of the outcome, we hope that local authorities recognise the priority of obtaining high-quality recyclate and the potential for closing the loop with UK reprocessors. We urge all councils to work with this branch of the domestic recycling industry to drive standards.”