Recycling Rate

Recycling rates have improved in recent years in our home markets as well as on European level.

In the Netherlands, used steel packaging from households is collected along with other household waste. Next, most of the steel packaging is reclaimed by magnetic separation, usually after incineration. This system has resulted in a recycling rate of 85% in 2009, placing the Netherlands among the top recyclers of metal packaging in Europe.

Tata Steel Packaging Recycling, our UK centre of expertise on steel recycling located in Troste Works Llanelli, has been at the forefront of the recycling drive, actively contributing to government-supported recycling programmes.

Tata is the largest steel recycler in the UK. Our focus remains on the domestic waste stream, and on recycling more of the 500 million cans (400,000 tonnes of steel) that result from it, via our recycling centres. We believe that more multi-material kerbside collection is required to achieve government targets. Our objective is to ensure that our customers get the best possible steel recycling deals, with high recycling levels and low recycling costs. This led to the achievement of a recycling rate in 2009 of 57.8% for packaging steel in the UK. (source: Apeal).

Since 2002, steel has become the most recycled packaging material in the EU, with a recycling rate of more than 70% in 2008.

Tata Steel is an active member of the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging (APEAL). APEAL expects that with annual growth of 3.4%, steel packaging recycling in the EU should near 75% by the end of 2015. This trend will be supported by the progressive adoption into national law of the EU regulation banning the landfill of unprocessed waste and of EU recycling targets.

We work constantly to improve our production efficiency and safety performance. We collaborate with the steel supply chain to optimise our contribution to sustainability. Recently we have been focusing on further improving health and safety and sustainability performance both in our operations and in our supply chain through cooperation with other parts of the Tata organisation.

 

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