British Glass: David Workman goes head to head with Richard Skehens at Futuresource

Wednesday, 25 March 2009 12:00 AM

On Wednesday 10 June David Workman, Director General of British Glass, will be debating on the issue of commingled waste with Richard Skehens, the MD of Grundon Waste Management and chair of ESA. This is one of a series of lively head-to-head debates pitching industry's most knowledgeable and passionate experts - with polar views - taking place at Futuresource 2009, the joint CIWM and ESA conference and exhibition at London ExCeL on 9-11 June.

Commingled waste is a contentious issue as more and more local authorities are relying heavily on commingled collections. This is where all materials - glass, paper, plastics, metals and textiles in some instances - are collected together and sent to a Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) for sorting in the erroneous belief that this is a cost effective 'one-stop solution.

David Workman said, "However, the end result from such activity is that glass cullet is not only being colour mixed, it is also being compacted and mixed with other materials, making the end product difficult to process and in many cases unsuitable for container manufacture.

"We are in a situation where household glass recycling is continuing to increase but the amount being returned to glass manufacturers for remelt is decreasing. Yet glass waste remelted into glass containers is of the most environmental benefit, and a process that can go on indefinitely without loss of product quality or integrity."

Commingled waste and recycling collection has support from some quarters of the industry, one partisan, as stated in the CIWM article in their March publication, being Greenstar's Chief Executive, Ian Wakelin, who in the past has described commingled collections as ". a valid and valuable part of Britain's recycling landscape. They are here to stay because they work." and insists they can deliver quality materials.

David Workman contends this view, "Although glass processors over the years have invested in and introduced technology to assist with colour sorting, the technology is not quite advanced enough to pull good quality cullet out of the waste stream once it has been compacted to a high degree. And the proof that it's not working is that the UK's glass packaging manufacturers are crying out for more good quality cullet - as indeed are the producers of flat and fibre glass."

The UK Glass Industry is concerned that this growing trend will have a significant impact on the other legislative drivers currently in force. There is no doubt that closed loop recycling of glass delivers the greatest environmental benefit.

David Workman concluded, "Recycled glass melts at a much lower temperature than virgin batch and saves a considerable amount of CO2 from being emitted. If only all local authorities and waste management companies realised that if they colour separated glass and sent it back to the industry from whence it came they would earn a far greater financial return than they do from commingling it - and make a useful contribution towards the UK's Climate Change goals in the process."

Notes to Editors

1 British Glass

The British Glass Manufacturers' Confederation represents the interests of all sectors of the glass industry in the UK. Its main activity is in representing the industry at European, national and local level on a wide range of topical legislative issues. It also conducts independent research into all aspects of glass production and technology.

2 David Workman

David Workman is Director General of the British Glass Manufacturers' Confederation, and has been so since 2001, and the current President of Brussels-based CPIV. His major role involves lobbying through various parliamentary groupings including the Packaging Federation, Confederation of British Industry and the Energy Intensive Users' Group as well as communicating with the EU through organisations such as FEVE, Glass for Europe and ESG.

3 Futuresource

Futuresource (pronounced Future Resource), organised by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) in partnership with the Environmental Services Association (ESA) and located at London ExCeL, is a major new exhibition and conference for the sustainable waste, recycling and resource management sector and its major client base. Full details about Futuresource 2009 can be found at www.futuresourceuk.com

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