Marcus Brew, MD of UNTHA UK, shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing the sector over the next 12 months and beyond…

A state of high demand

First and foremost, we must acknowledge that not only as a country, but as a globe, we’re currently navigating economic waters that are both choppy and unpredictable.

With inflation climbing and the UK having entered a recession at the end of 2022, it’s no surprise that margins are being squeezed — making it more difficult for organisations to make a profit. But what does this mean for customers within the waste and recycling industry?

It means that demands — and expectations — will continue to rise, and rightly so. Return on investment (ROI) will matter more than ever too — not solely in terms of machinery that operators procure but the ongoing support provided by the company they choose to buy from.

Of course, in the case of shredding, more throughputs, less downtime, and readily available, high-quality parts will continue to be crucial, but for premium, pioneering brands, ongoing innovation and faultless customer aftercare will be what stands out. Manufacturers will have to get this right to keep customers.

This means we’ll likely see what’s often deemed the ‘softer’ side of commercial relationships — all things ‘added value’ — really come to the fore in 2023.

What measures has UNTHA UK put in place?

At UNTHA UK, we’ve long prided ourselves on our quality standards — and being known as the shredding partner long after the sale — but this is something that we and the wider market need to keep a close eye on over the coming months.

As companies become busier and demands grow, this, if not handled correctly, can cause standards and processes to slip — and this cannot afford to happen.

This year, we’ve already invested a seven-figure sum in stock machines, to give our customers and prospects peace of mind and agility. If they book a shredder trial at our HQ and decide they want to purchase a machine, the technology is ready there and then. Our £1m investment in parts also means we can be hyper responsive and minimise downtime for clients.

It’s a forward-looking and ‘always on’ approach that more operators within the sector will come to need and expect from suppliers over the coming months.

Keeping a close eye on the finances

Money is the backbone of any investment — there has to be demonstrable short and long-term return — but with purse strings being pulled tighter, it’s never been more vital for the buyer to understand and evidence the value they will receive.

Some businesses may have less capital available, so for large investments, flexible finance options will be more sought after than ever. And this won’t only be applicable when buying the asset outright, but also for shredder rebuilds and parts, when preserving the condition of existing equipment.

Directing more attention towards ‘trickier’ applications

While everyone is trying to ‘do more with less’ in a financial sense, this will also likely forge a greater resource potential mindset.

Environmental responsibility is a topic that’s not only discussed and recognised within the industry any more — the net has widened to organisations across all industries, and the general public too.

2023 will, therefore, be the year that we’ll see notoriously ‘trickier’ but ‘greener’ materials — such as solar panels, batteries, or WEEE — being prioritised and their full resource potential explored and realised.

Solar panel shredding is one application in particular where we expect to see greater demand — especially in light of the UK’s net zero strategy and the current energy crisis.

This is further compounded by The International Renewable Energy Agency predicting the UK will produce 30,000 tonnes of solar-related waste over the next 10 years, and that global levels will be between 1.7 and 8 million tonnes in 2030.

And with a typical lifespan ranging 25-30 years, domestic solar panels need to be recycled at the end of their service, in order to avoid becoming a landfill pollutant.

This point harks back to an article my colleague, Gary Moore, wrote last year, about how the wider supply chain needs to innovate in tandem with the production of such technologies. This will ensure there is sufficient infrastructure in place to sensibly process the high volumes of photovoltaic panels, once they reach their end of life — critical really, given their mission is to enable a more sustainable source of energy production.

This same point applies to lithium-ion batteries too. There was a 40% year-on-year increase in battery-electric car registrations in the UK in 2022, and the Government recently confirmed the full decarbonisation of its vehicle fleet by 2027.

It’s clear this complex waste stream will also be a hot topic in 2023 and beyond, alongside the widely debated persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in WEEE.

However, while the UK still doesn’t yet have the mass-scale infrastructure to be able to handle the influx of some of these nicher waste streams, there are many successful examples happening throughout the world. It’s a matter of sharing knowledge and collaborating to make processing these complex materials a reality for all.

Putting authentic sustainability first

We know there are often lots of headlines about organisations’ green commitments, but we also know that greenwashing is a major problem.

Many companies have come under fire about their claims — with the European Commission finding that 53% of claims in 2020 contained “vague, misleading or unfounded information about products’ environmental characteristics.”

There’s currently draft legislation in progress which aims to put a stop to companies making baseless pledges, so 2023 will be the year that authentic sustainability comes into sharper focus. 

If an organsation within the environmental sector is working to create a closed-loop model for businesses, for instance, it must practice what it preaches.

On that note, passing tricky applications off as someone else’s problem will not — and should not — be tolerated anymore. And while this might not always mean that a business case for a piece of electric-driven machinery is as compelling on paper as it was prior to the energy price hike, it’s vital to remember that it is still a cleaner alternative to its diesel counterpart.

The bottom line — do more with less

Bottom-line health and environmental wellbeing need to coexist in harmony for the sector this year, so the hard work and progress made to achieve a more circular economy isn’t undone.

Also, I hope from a policy level that the Government implements clear legislation to drive compliance across the board — for all recyclates. It’s a topic that’s been discussed for years, but if the sector’s innovators are going to meet the bold and ambitious recycling targets we’ve been set, this needs addressing.

Niche applications and next-level innovations will be the theme throughout 2023, and we’re excited to be playing a key part within this exciting journey.