WRAP CYMRU CONFERENCE – 22 OCTOBER
ANDY REES
Good morning, I am pleased to speak today to give you an insight into
the Welsh Government’s intention to develop a circular economy in
Wales, and the important role that WRAP Cymru is playing, and will play,
in the future.
We face challenging times. As a government we are increasingly having
to do more with less. We await the outcome of the UK Government’s
Spending Review 2015 to find out how great the future financial
challenge will be.
Businesses face many challenges, including competing in a global
market place. Welsh manufacturing businesses already have to compete
to sell their products; many will have to compete to source their raw
materials at an affordable price. Global competition for food, water and
other raw materials will increase when economies prosper and
consumption levels increase across the world. This in turn leads to
pressure on natural resources and the ecosystems that support
humankind.
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More than ever before we need sustainable development across the
globe. The United Nations Sustainable Development goals (seventeen
of them) were recently agreed by the 193 countries of the UN General
Assembly. They provide a focus and a call to action. [SLIDE 2]
Wales is acknowledged as a global leader in sustainable development.
The recently agreed Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
sets the Welsh public sector on a path to carry out sustainable
development in everything it does. This covers economic, social,
environmental and cultural well-being. Sustainable development is a
statutory duty for both the Welsh Government and the public bodies
detailed in the Act. We are obliged to maximise our contribution to the
seven well-being goals. [SLIDE 3]. We also to have to ensure that we
are following the five key principles laid down in the Act. [SLIDE 4]
The Welsh Government’s approach to sustainable development will be
re-energised by the new Well-being Act. All public bodies identified in
the Act must play their part. Collectively we will use the influence of the
public sector in Wales to make changes for the good of present and
future generations – making sure that our money goes further and
delivers as many multiple benefits as possible, in an integrated way.
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I’d just like to give a quick plug for the recently launched consultation on
the proposed 40 well-being goal indicators. The consultation ends on 11
January. Number 37 is a proposed indicator on non-recyclable (residual
waste) per person. [SLIDE 5]. This encapsulates our goals for both
waste prevention and recycling.
The Welsh Government’s strategic approach to waste in Wales has
always embraced sustainable development. Wise About Waste, our
first waste strategy in 2002, emphasised the economic and social
benefits of managing waste sustainably, as well as reducing its impact
on the environment. Towards Zero Waste, published in 2010,
embraced the Welsh Government’s 2009 sustainable development
scheme, One Wales, One Planet. The waste strategy aligned itself to the
three core goals of:
 A sustainable environment
 A prosperous society; and
 A fair and just society.
Enshrined within this are the aims to use only our fair share of the
earth’s resources, and to respect our environmental limits.
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Towards Zero Waste set milestones for sustainable resource
management that would generate economic, social and environmental
benefits. A key aim was set to ensure that waste and resource
management played its part in delivering the 2050 one planet resource
use goal laid down in One Wales, One Planet. This led to the setting of
waste prevention and recycling targets for all waste streams. In terms of
waste prevention, the importance of product design was stressed. This
means designing products that use fewer resources and which last
longer, more reusable and/or generate less waste at end of life.
In terms of recycling, Towards Zero Waste stressed the importance of
high quality, closed loop recycling. This not only generates better
environmental outcomes than open loop recycling, but it also helps
generate better economic outcomes for Wales. Our reprocessors and
manufacturing companies need a dependable, consistent supply of high
quality recyclate. Our collection systems need to be designed to deliver
this.
Towards Zero Waste is all about making sure that valuable material
resources are kept in productive use for as long as possible. There is
absolute alignment with the ‘circular economy’ concept that has come to
the fore in the last 2-3 years, as championed by the Ellen MacArthur
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Foundation. This aims to transform us away from the linear economy
that still characterises much of the way we manage materials resources:
the “Take – Make – Use – Lose (to landfill or incineration)” approach.
[SLIDE 6]
We need to keep material resources in use for as long as possible –
taking a circular economy approach. [SLIDE 7].
Two WRAP studies have quantified the potential benefits to Wales of a
circular economy – several tens of thousands of jobs could be created
and several billions of pounds could be saved. It is also likely that it will
generate many multiple benefits in relation to the well-being goals.
We have made a good start in Wales – in terms of municipal waste
recycling we are out in front in the UK context, and would rank fourth in
Europe if we were a separate member state. [SLIDE 8] But this is the
end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end. A high
recycling rate means we have good environmental outcomes, but we
need to do more collectively to maximise our contribution to the new
well-being goals. We also need collectively to do more to generate
better economic, social and cultural outcomes for Wales. And we need
to do more to achieve even greater environmental outcomes, especially
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in respect of reducing further our consumption based carbon footprint.
[SLIDE 9]
I will now consider the circular economy concept in more detail and what
it means, or could mean, for Wales. But first of all we need to consider
what a ‘circular economy’ practically means in respect of the recycling of
materials in the global market place we operate in. Can Wales ever be
100% circular or 100% self sufficient in terms of resources? Well, of
course it can’t within the global economic model that we all work in. Free
global trade is here to stay for the very considerable foreseeable future.
So does this mean that the circular economy concept is redundant for
Wales? Not at all, as I will describe next.
I will cover two different aspects of the Welsh economy – firstly
consumption, and then production.
In terms of consumption and the products sold by retailers in Wales,
there are material cycles or circles at different geographical levels.
[SLIDE 10]
There are some products bought and consumed in Wales
that are only made in Wales. The recyclate derived from these products
when they become waste can be supplied back to Welsh manufacturers
to use as a secondary raw material in the place of primary / virgin raw
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materials. There are some products bought and consumed in Wales
that are made in the UK, some made in Europe and some made in the
rest of the world. Here, in simple crude terms, the circular approach, in
respect of recycling, means getting the waste recyclate back to the
source of production.
To maximise our contribution to the well-being goals we need to grow
the Welsh circle as far as we can. [CLICK ON ANIMATION TO GROW
THE CIRCLE] This means working with our manufacturers to get them to
increase the recycled content of their products. But this will not be
economically successful unless we do two things: 1) ensure a secure,
consistent supply of high quality recyclate from Wales; and 2) ensure a
market in Wales for the products with a high recycled content.
In terms of securing a consistent supply of high quality recyclate, the
Welsh Government is doing two things: 1) it is working with the waste
industry to develop a more consistent supply of high quality recyclate
from households and businesses (we have published the Collections
Blueprint as a guide to good practice, and we have published guidance
on the separate collection regulations ); and 2) it has introduced the
Environment Bill that includes provisions to require businesses and
public bodies to keep key recyclable wastes separate at source. The Bill
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also includes provisions to extend the separate collection requirements
to include additional materials – for example food waste (in addition to
plastic, paper, metal and plastic that are covered under existing
legislation). What we need is for all recyclate to be collected in the same
way across Wales, from everybody at work, rest and play.
Collecting recyclate is one thing, but finding an adequate market for it is
another. To ensure the best well-being goal outcomes we need to
create as big a market [for recyclate] in Wales as possible. This means
supporting manufacturing businesses to innovate and either develop
new products made out of recyclate, or convert existing products to use
a higher proportion of recyclate. [SLIDE 11]. WRAP Cymru have
always had a focus on developing recyclate markets in Wales. Their
recently completed and very successful European Union funded ARID
project demonstrates what can be done. WRAP Cymru is hoping to
build on the success of this project, and is looking at ways of using
Welsh Government core grant funding to seek out and support Welsh
manufacturing companies to help create new and expanded markets for
Welsh recyclate.
To do this effectively we need collectively to raise the awareness of the
benefits of the circular economy to Welsh manufacturing companies,
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especially SMEs. I suspect that many of them currently aren’t aware of
the circular economy approach. We also need to ensure a joined up
approach all along the supply chain, including with the local authorities
and waste management companies who collect recyclate in Wales. The
successful delivery of a circular economy within Wales will require all
those who produce waste, collect it and reprocess it to tailor their
activities to provide a consistent supply of high quality recycle to those
Welsh manufacturing companies who can use it. That’s the outcome
we need.
However, there is no point Welsh manufacturing companies producing
products with a high recycled content if there is no demand. Whilst
markets can develop themselves if the right product is made that is
affordable and fit for purpose, government can help create markets
through public sector procurement. WRAP Cymru will be working with
Value Wales and the National Procurement Service to look for goods
that are bought in the public sector in Wales that could be sensibly /
realistically specified to have a high recycled content. We have
included more resource efficient procurement as a key action area in our
consultation on the Public Sector Waste and Resource Efficiency Plan.
The consultation closes on 4th December.
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For us to increase circularity in Wales, and for it all to work, there needs
to be a very strong integrated, joined up approach. That’s why we have
asked WRAP Cymru to set up a ‘task force’ of key organisations to take
this forward. WRAP Cymru are already supporting local authorities in
respect of developing a recyclate brokerage.
We also need to understand better where local authority collected
recyclate currently ends up. It is difficult for us at the moment to say with
any certainty how much recyclate collected by Welsh local authorities is
used by Welsh manufacturing companies. We are taking steps to
understand the difficulties in obtaining this information, with a view to
improving it. We need to know how circular we currently are. This will
then act as a baseline to monitor improvements.
WRAP Cymru are also using our grant funding to develop and publish a
directory of reprocessors and manufacturing companies that want to use
Welsh recyclate.
I have described so far the circular approach we need in respect of
products we consume in Wales and which become waste – or rather a
source of secondary raw materials as recyclate. As I said earlier, the
material cycles operate across geographical boundaries. We rightly
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need to expand the Welsh circle of use of Welsh recyclate. But to grow
the Welsh economy as a whole we need to increase the exports of
products manufactured in Wales. [SLIDE 12]. What circularity and
resource efficiency means in this instance is that our manufacturers
need to design competitive products that use fewer resources, which
use a greater proportion of secondary recycled raw material, and which
last longer and generate less waste. To make large quantities of
resource efficient product will require these companies to import
recyclate from the UK, Europe and beyond. We need to set up the
infrastructure to ensure this happens.
Another opportunity for us is to better ‘valorise’ industrial waste streams
– that is get better value out of the waste streams. There's a lot of
innovation that needs to happen to realise the inherent value within
waste streams as we climb the waste hierarchy.
Everything I have described so far will require a lot of innovative
approaches. Wales has a good track record of innovation in terms of
resource efficiency, with a lot of excellent work being carried out across
the academic institutions in Wales. We need to build on this further and
ensure that academia is part of the WRAP Cymru task force that I
mentioned earlier. The new EU ERDF programme for Wales contains
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priorities for innovation and SME support. There is also the recently
announced new funding for the circular economy under EU Horizon
2020 programme – some five hundred million Euros I understand. We
need to collectively ensure that Wales gets its share of this funding.
As time is limited, I have focussed very much on recycling. But I must
stress that to achieve our one planet resource use goal for 2050 we
need to give a strong priority to waste prevention, including reuse. We
have published our Waste Prevention Programme, and actions are
underway to deliver it. WRAP are playing an important role here,
including their work on Love Food Hate Waste and the various voluntary
agreements that they have brokered. There is also the Reuse Alliance
that WRAP Cymru is developing for Wales.
We have started our evaluation of Towards Zero Waste, as required to
do under the EU Waste Framework Directive. We published a Towards
Zero Waste progress report in July. Further work will include evaluating
how Towards Zero Waste makes a contribution to each of the well-being
goals. We will then re-fresh the strategy, identifying what more needs to
be done to maximise our contribution to each of the well-being goals.
The refresh will include an even greater focus on the circular economy
approach. It will also need to accommodate the European Commission’s
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new revised proposals on the circular economy that are due to be
published in December.
WRAP Cymru is a key delivery partner in respect of helping all of us
achieve a circular economy in Wales. We all have much to do and much
to contribute, and I look forward to hearing the presentations and debate
today.
We need to channel the collective energy, enthusiasm and knowledge in
this room and in the rest of Wales to deliver a resource efficient
economy in Wales that secures the well-being of present and future
generations.
I want to leave you with a final thought. Wales is a small country. This
can sometimes bring disadvantages in respect of poor economies of
scale. However, as a small country we have an excellent opportunity to
all pull together in the right direction. We can play to our strengths here.
A fragmented approach will not deliver the type of circular economy we
need – and the extra jobs and economic benefits it could yield. This is
especially true in respect of recyclate collection – from households,
businesses and the public sector. We want to work with you all to
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deliver a more consistent and sustainable waste management services
across Wales.
Thank you.
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