Jobs from Waste: Employment Opportunities in Recycling

It is worth taking some time to explore the value of this report beyond the immediate employment figures for the recycling industries, and also to consider these employment figures in the wider context of sustainable development.

If sustainable waste management is to play a part in overall sustainable development, through more efficient resource use, the creation of jobs in new industries and the subsequent economic benefits these bring, there are a number of step changes which will need to occur. Data collection will need to improve through harmonisation across the bodies charged with responsibility for waste management and those with responsibility for its implementation. Better data collection might help the development of "joined-up thinking" or a holistic approach which will need to characterise waste management policy- and decision-making in future. These two elements are considered in more detail below.

Throughout this report, the lack of comprehensive or standardised data collection has been raised as a barrier to understanding the impacts of current waste management and to developing more sustainable waste management practices. Beyond waste management, the economic and social impacts of resource use are not properly considered since household waste is not "owned" like commercial or industrial waste is.

Better data collection systems will help internalise important externalities, including the employment impacts of different waste management processes. For example, a study of Baltimore, Washington DC and Richmond, an area similar to London, found that for every 100,000 tons of materials collected and sorted, 79 jobs were required, and processing this amount required another 162 jobs. These 241 jobs were ten times as high as other disposal alternatives.

At the EU level, the EC Recycling Forum is addressing the social aspects of recycling - or job creation. It recognises that little data in this area exists, and has agreed to concentrate on obtaining more data at the sector and Member State levels; and on identifying the issues concerning the quality of the jobs that would be created, including health and safety. It is considering the evaluation methodology for social aspects, such as job creation related to environmental drivers.

Further research needs to be undertaken beyond this first attempt at providing a comprehensive view of recycling. A number of elements have been omitted from this report - not least, composting, textiles recycling, and the multiplier effect of recycling on jobs in recycling support industries such as collection vehicle and machinery maintenance - which have job creation potential as well as other social benefits. The UK textiles recycling industry alone has at least 15,000 employees¹⁹. Also, focusing on employment from household waste recycling has shown only part of the potential created by recycling. Partnerships between companies - waste exchanges - are beginning to develop around commercial and industrial waste. The replacement of virgin materials with recycled materials in production processes also has potential benefits - not least since recycled materials could be sourced domestically, whereas many virgin materials (like trees for paper) are currently sourced abroad. At the regional level - and where the Regional Development Agencies have missed another opportunity - these relationships can develop into local economies, forming "clusters" based around specific materials. RDAs are considered in more detail below.

Waste management historically has been linear in design, with the different points along the production-use-disposal chain being considered in isolation. Continuing with this approach threatens to stifle developments in new industries and new partnerships that will need to be created, encouraged and maintained if sustainable waste management is to be achieved. It will take "joined-up thinking" to see the benefits from recycling in a number of areas. For example, the creation of jobs in collecting, sorting and reprocessing of materials will assist regeneration. Further job creation in remanufacturing and refurbishing of products will also result, especially as encouraged by take-back elements of the WEEE and ELV Directives, the extension of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations into other areas of packaging, and the potential for producer responsibility legislation to be applied to other products. A recent report by the think-tank Demos suggested that an intensive recycling programme in Britain would result in 15,000 jobs in collection and sorting and between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs in manufacturing and processing - a total of between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs²⁰. Many jobs in recycling are in "blue-collar" areas, requiring less skills training or providing opportunities for traditionally "disadvantaged" or excluded elements of society. This is not to say that all the jobs created will be in blue-collar employment. White-collar jobs will likely be created in compliance schemes such as those that were created in relation to the packaging regulations. New compliance schemes will be needed to complement the WEEE and ELV Directives, as well as the batteries and composting Directives when they are agreed.

Beyond the immediate job creation in recycling, by encouraging the use of recycled materials in production processes, technological advance and creative ideas are stimulated. Wider sustainable development is assisted, and meeting environmental targets in other areas (such as greenhouse gas emissions) are also helped. For instance, recent research undertaken by the United States Environmental Protection Agency²¹ showed the following impact upon greenhouse gas emissions (in carbon equivalents) from different types of waste management. These were the results:

Opportunities exist at all levels - Best Value offers local authorities encouragement in developing relationships with each other. The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), which have yet to show an understanding of sustainable development, have an opportunity to create industries and networks that best work at the local and regional level. Indeed, of the eight RDAs, only the South West's RDA has published an environmental strategy for the region²². SWERDA has estimated that meeting a 40% recycling rate in the South West could create an additional 675 jobs in the region. Further estimates, for the community recycling sector in the region, are that the expansion and development of existing activities could create 1,500 to 2,000 jobs locally.

The Regional Development Agencies, and the Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales bodies should look to North America for examples of progressive approaches to recycling. The US Environmental Protection Agency has a Jobs Through Recycling (JTR) programme which aims to stimulate economic growth and recycling market development by providing assistance to businesses and entrepreneurs processing recycled materials or manufacturing recycled-content products. The JTR brings together different communities through grants, networking and information sharing, and builds expertise within economic development agencies through technical assistance, financing and marketing. Further data can be found on their website at: www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/recycle/jtr/index.htm.

One of the bodies involved in the JTR is the Northeast (US) Recycling Council. The results of a 1994 study identified 103,400 people employed in the processing and manufacturing of recycled materials, the businesses of which added an estimated $7.7 billion in value to recyclable commodities collected in the region.

Another US example is the Clean Washington Center (CWC) which was established by the State legislature as the primary state organisation to develop markets for recycled materials. Since that time, CWC has worked in partnership with business, industry, and local government to increase the manufacturing capacity for materials recovered from the waste stream, helping to conserve natural resources, lower waste costs and strengthen the local economy. According to the CWC, its market development strategies have had a significant influence on capital investment of nearly $1.5 billion and the creation of over 13,000 jobs in the State's growing recycled content manufacturing sector.

Another US State, Iowa, undertook a study of the economic impacts of recycling on the State's economy. Although the results are not necessarily directly applicable to the UK situation, they may be more relevant at the regional level. Findings include: a doubling of jobs in the processing of recyclable materials from 650 to 1,290; and that for every job created in the recyclables processing sector, an additional job is created elsewhere in the State.

There are a small number of progressive initiatives being implemented in the UK. The REMADE programme in Scotland involves public and private sector organisations in finding alternative uses for waste. Market development of recycled materials, one of the greatest barriers of recycling, is the central focus. The programme aims to recycle 100,000 tonnes of waste generated in Scotland, create or retain 150 jobs, and to stimulate £10 million of new capital investment in Scottish industry. Funders for the programme include the Scottish Executive, local authorities, Scottish Enterprise, SEPA, Valpak and two private waste management companies. Similar programmes are being run in England.

Another example of the types of new partnerships that could be forged is the recent waste management contract secured by SITA from Surrey County Council. It is expected that SITA will sub-contract part of the work needed to achieve the 25% recycling rate by 2005 - to community sector bodies. Similarly, the London Borough of Camden has developed a recycling project with Oxfam and The Big Issue in which homeless people gain access to secure employment opportunities, Oxfam receives some materials collected and Camden's recycling targets are closer to being met.

As part of the Government's consultation on its draft waste strategy, a Market Development Group was created which investigated barriers to markets for recycled goods, how these could be overcome and who had a role to play in doing so. The Group's report²³ details recommendations in quality and standards of recycled materials, eco-design, economic instruments, minimum recycled content, partnerships and longer-term contracts, consumer awareness, waste and recyclables exchanges, futures markets and public procurement.

Joined-up thinking and better data collection underpins these recommendations, and might identify other ways of overcoming the barriers to sustainable waste management.

As a means of stimulating further debate and highlighting areas where advances can be made, the following are some of the recommendations that result from the research undertaken for this report:

Data collection systems need to be developed that provide a more refined data profile according to the materials being recycled. This would help in future decisions about extending recycling systems to new materials, and assist the development of economies around these materials. This level of data would also help designers of products to incorporate life cycle assessments into the design phase of new products.

Better analysis of the financial implications of recycling - in particular, the costs of the environmental and social impacts. The potential for economic and social regeneration at the local level from recycling industries needs to be explored.

More in-depth analysis of the micro-economics of the recycling industry - i.e. what is the potential for growth in materials recovery facilities, what type of MRFs, what sort of collection systems, and what number of reprocessors would result from sustained and increased recycling.

A commitment to sustained investment in recycling and market development of recycling and recycled materials to realise the full potential of the recycling industry. This can be assisted by earmarking a percentage of landfill tax funds to these programmes and activities, including supporting local authority recycling schemes.

Leading on from this, the Government should make the national recycling target mandatory so that local authorities are required to recycle a minimum percentage of their waste arisings.

Regional analyses of the opportunities derived from recycling industries. Recycling industries work best at the local or regional level, and therefore fit well in the devolution process which is shifting power to the regional level. The Regional Development Agencies and the Scottish and Welsh bodies have yet to fully recognise the potential offered by recycling in developing regional economies.

Analysis of the potential of recycling industries beyond those tackled in this report. This report is limited to collection, sorting and reprocessing of materials to the point of preparing them to be used for other processes. These other processes, and the supporting industries of recycling such as recycling container production, should also be assessed.

²¹ US Environmental Protection Agency: Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Reductions/Increases, counted from a Raw Material Generation Reference Point

²² "An Environmental Prospectus for South West England"; South West of England Regional Development Agency; March 1999.

²³ Report of the Market Development Group, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 1999

SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT AND JOB CREATION