This report will explore the following key issues regarding the recycling industry in the UK:
What are the key determinants driving the recycling industry?
How have UK governments influenced and shaped the development of recycling in each respective country?
How have EU directives and individual behaviour shaped market demand and supply?
What are the key issues the industry needs to address to expand and improve recycling in the long term?
What does the future hold for the UK’s recycling industry?
Definitions
The MBD recycling market report explores a wide range of recyclable materials, some of which are grouped as follows:
WEEE, electrical goods falling under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, including household appliances, IT equipment and electrical tools.
Co-mingled recycling, also known as single-stream recycling. Where paper, card, plastic and metal recycling are collected in a single container rather than separately.
Non-metallic wastes, which includes glass, plastic, rubber, wood, textiles, paper and card.
Metal recycling can be further segmented by type of metal, namely:
Ferrous metals waste and scrap, which includes: waste and scrap of cast iron and alloy steel; other ferrous waste and scrap comprises of tinned iron or steel; as well as turnings, shavings, chips, milling waste, sawdust, filings, trimmings and stampings, largely obtained from the machining of parts.
Non-ferrous metals waste and scrap, including aluminium, nickel, zinc, copper, lead and tin.
Municipal waste arisings in the UK includes all wastes under the control of local authorities or agents acting on their behalf, which means all household waste, municipal parks and garden wastes, and council office waste. It also includes any waste collected by local authorities from businesses. This waste is referred to as Local Authority Collected Waste (LACW).
All values quoted in this report are at current prices unless otherwise specified.
The term billion refers to one thousand million.
Some numbers in tables do not sum due to rounding.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations appear in this report:
| ABP | Animal By-Product |
| ACE | Alliance for Beverage Cartons and Environment |
| AD | Anaerobic Digestion |
| BMRA | British Metals Recycling Association |
| BMW | Biodegradable Municipal Waste |
| BoE | Bank of England |
| BOS | Basic Oxygen Steelmaking |
| CPI | Consumer Prices Index |
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