Brexit presents the waste sector with an opportunity to have a greater influence on government policy – the new chairman of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Stewart Davies, has said.
Dr Davies, chief executive of the hazardous waste business Augean Plc, has been elected chair of the organisation, which represents the waste management sector, in succession to Peter Gerstrom, chief executive of Cory Environmental.
Dr Stewart Davies, the new chairman of the Environmental Services Association
Speaking at the ESA’s annual lunch on Friday (25 November), Dr Davies outlined the opportunities and risks presented by the UK’s impending exit from the European Union remarking that in 2016 “politics feels like it has been turned upside down.”
Dr Davies added that despite having some significant economic risks for the sector, the chance to influence Whitehall policy around waste and recycling will present the greatest opportunity for ESA members in the post-Brexit environment.
He said: “For our members, Brexit is a champagne moment, isn’t it? In our first meeting with the new minister appointed in the post-Brexit reshuffle, we were invited to say how Brexit will bring opportunity for our members.”
Dr Davies said that he hopes to see ESA build a ‘sector-wide’ consensus around proposals to boost recycling throughout the supply chain during his time at the helm.
He added: “There is now a greater opportunity to influence the industry’s future direction than there has been for a generation.
“We anticipate that Brexit will give us scope to adapt our technical regulations – moving from the constrained one-size fits all approach of the EU, to UK regulations that are more flexible and risk-based.”
Regulation
The chairman claimed that in some areas, the UK could be better served diverging from Europe on waste regulation, noting: “Brexit may give us more opportunity to influence the strategic drivers for the sector, depending whether the EU’s Circular Economy package applies. ESA supports higher recycling targets only where there is a sensible, achievable definition for recycling and measures to support the demand for recyclate material.”
However, despite outlining some of the potential benefits to the UK’s waste sector, Dr Davies also noted that Brexit does present some risks for waste businesses. In particular he pointed to the global nature of waste material flows – with a vast proportion of the UK’s recyclable material and waste – in the form of refuse derived fuels – exported oversees.
Exports
Dr Davies observed that these ‘critical flows’ depend on trade to and through other EU countries and asked: “On what basis can these important trade flows be planned beyond the next three years?”
He concluded: “We need our Environmental Services Association to be all over every aspect and detail of the Brexit negotiation. It will impact on our businesses either through unintended consequences or in those trade-offs that are going to be going on in the international negotiations.”
Peter Gerstrom (left) is presented with a commemorative bowl by the newly-appointed chairman of ESA Stewart Davies for his service to the organisation
Also addressing guests at the annual lunch, outgoing chairman Peter Gerstrom outlined the drivers affecting the waste and recycling industry, including the impact of Brexit, and the potential for an Extended Producer Responsibility regime to drive recycling.
Mr Gerstrom – who was presented with life membership of the ESA at the event – said: “It’s been a pleasure to serve you these last two years – a period that has seen vast change.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
