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New Recycling And Reprocessing Trade Association Formed

9 November 2011

New trade association, The Resource Association, was launched yesterday (8 November), aiming to bring a unified voice to the reprocessing and recycling industries

The Association has been formed by a group of eleven companies and organisations, with former WRAP director Ray Georgeson appointed as chief executive.

The companies include:

  • Alloa Community Enterprises -　Scottish recycling charity;
  • Aylesford Newsprint -recycled paper manufacturer 　
  • Bryson recycling -　Belfast-based recycling company;
  • Coca-Cola Enterprises;
  • Huhtamaki (UK) Ltd -　packaging producer;
  • Kent Waste Partnership;
  • May Gurney Ltd;
  • Novelis Recycling;
  • Plastics Sorting Ltd;
  • Smurfit Kappa Recycling;　
  • Somerset Waste Partnership.

The trade body will aim to mediate with governments across the UK, the European Commission, other trade associations and stakeholders with shared interests and bring a unified voice to the reprocessing and recycling industries.

The association's other main objectives include:

  • Highlighting the reprocessing and recycling industries' contribution to carbon reduction, employment and economic development.
  • Putting quality and recovery of the value of secondary materials at the heart of the reprocessing industry and its role in the local economy.
  • Promoting resource integrity and closed loop systems.
  • Engaging with local authorities and their service providers in the delivery of better recycling services that can sustainably provide quality feedstock to manufacturers.
  • Communicating the value of the industry and reconnecting people to the materials they use and the way products are made from them.
  • The Association will be overseen by a steering group chaired by Andy Doran of Novelis and consisting of Simon Weston from Smurfit Kappa, Chris White from Plastics Sorting Ltd, Eric Randall from Bryson Recycling, Richard Barker from anaerobic digestion company BiogenGreenfinch, Andrew Perkins, from Aylesford Newsprint, Alan Wheeler from the Textile Recycling Association and Nicola Peake from May Gurney. Consultant Ray Georgeson, a former WRAP director, has been appointed as director and will run the association from his base in Otley, West Yorkshire.

The Association has already produced an initial policy statement Advancing the agenda for a resource-efficient economy, which calls for the quality and usability of secondary resources to be prioritised over the merits of different waste collection methods and for the Government to promote quality as well as quantity of recyclates.

According to the mission statement, the Resource Association's vision: "is for a UK resource efficient materials economy for the 21st century which realises value, prizes quality and seeks to maintain the integrity of the secondary materials which are still too commonly treated as waste".

The association says its aims: "will be to support the development of a sustainable and healthy industry by providing a voice, forum and leadership for the materials reprocessing recycling industry and related environmental and social interests which is distinctive and clearly identifiable and separate from related interests in traditional waste management".

Discussions are said to be underway with "several more major companies" and the association is inviting other businesses and organisations to join it as founder members.

Full membership is open to all reprocessors of recovered materials.

Affiliate membership is open to all companies in the reprocessing supply chain and associated sectors, including collection companies and equipment suppliers as well as local authorities, trade associations, NGOs, community groups and individuals.

Georgeson said: "Associate membership is also open to service providers with an interest in our sector, such as lawyers, accountants, financial advisers and consultancies."

The association will be managed by Georgeson from his Yorkshire base and staff recruitment will also be Yorkshire-based, but with the potential for "flexible working for suitable appointments".

Darrel Moore