What another jam-packed year it’s been for the waste and recycling industry – with lots of new challenges and opportunities that have paved the way for further innovation and collaboration.

We’ve taken a look back at the last 12 months to collate some of the sector’s many key news articles and celebrate them in this end-of-year blog.

So, grab a brew and read more…

New WEEE research highlighted scale of smartphone waste

In October, it was International E-Waste Day, which focused upon the small electrical devices that households most commonly hoard in drawers or throw in the bin.

New research – from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum – also revealed that over 5 billion smartphones will become waste in 2022.

At UNTHA UK, we’ve long recognised the resource value of these items and how shredding can help to ‘unlock’ the valuable materials within. As part of our mission to reach new audiences and help tackle this global recycling challenge, we partnered with One Minute Briefs to launch the #WhereDoesWEEEGo social media campaign!

MPs called for plastic waste export ban

The cross-party environment, food and rural affairs (EFRA) committee published ‘The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste’ – a report which revealed the UK exports circa 60% of the 2.5 million+ tonnes of plastic packaging waste it generates.

As a result, the EFRA has recommended that the Government bans all UK plastic waste exports by 2027, however, the CIWM confirmed it “does not support” a complete ban.

In addition to the ban, the EFRA also made numerous suggestions around how the UK can reduce its consumption of plastics. This is a cause we also support here at UNTHA UK – see our project with bespoke plastic recycling company, Meplas, for just one way our equipment supports the circularity of this material.

The Wood Recyclers’ Association celebrated 21 years

The WRA’s 21^st anniversary was a key milestone in 2022, and we’re proud to be members of this growing and extremely important trade body.

Over 120 members and guests gathered back in June for the celebratory conference, where key sector topics were discussed – including future regulations, seasonal demand for wood, and the balance between sending wood for reuse, recycling, or energy production.

The wood recycling sector has come a long way in two decades, with 90% of waste wood now being recovered.

Here at UNTHA, this year we’ve seen an increasing appetite for our industrial wood shredders, which saw us launch our PS1300 pallet shredder business case guide.

Specially designed ‘anti-solar cells’ can charge a mobile phone

Unlike traditional solar panels that generate energy from the sun, these nocturnal panels – created by Professor Jeremy Munday – “harvest electricity form the night sky”.

Research this year has uncovered that these night-time installations can produce enough energy to charge a mobile phone – generating up to 50 watts of power per square metre.

The recycling of these ‘green technologies’ is a topic close to our heart at UNTHA. In fact, earlier this year, we authored a piece on the role shredding can play in liberating the valuable composite materials found inside solar panels, for maximum reuse and recovery rates.

BMRA called for battery ban in household bins

In a bid to help reduce and prevent the “ever increasing number of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries”, the British Metals Recycling Association called upon the Government to put a stop to households discarding waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and lithium-ion batteries in kerbside recycling and residual waste bins.

Instead, it has suggested that councils carry our separate collections – enabling residents to dispose of single-use vapes, too.

Rewinding to the start of 2022, we published an article on why battery recycling will be such a prevalent topic this year and beyond – and we were right!

The world’s largest plastic waste pyramid was constructed

Ahead of COP27 taking place in Egypt, a waste pyramid was assembled from the equivalent of up to one million plastic water bottles collected from the River Nile. Weighing 20 tonnes, the installation is located in the country’s Western Desert.

The structure marks the start of an initiative called the 100YR CLEANUP – seeking to fund large-scale cleans-ups for the next century. As part of the project, businesses can contribute financially towards the cause and “consumers can sponsor the removal of bundles of trash”.

 

While there were many more articles bookmarked, we hope you’ve enjoyed our 2022 news round-up. We’re looking forward to what headlines history the waste and recycling industry will make next year, too!

If you have any stories you’d like to share, tweet us or drop us a comment on LinkedIn!