Global consumption of goods and products is increasing at a rapid pace, as set by countries in the western world, and now emulated by those in the emerging economies. However there are limits to the planet’s ability to cope with the impact of consumption on this scale and, for businesses, the focus on waste reduction and the need to ensure products are designed with minimal environmental impact has never been sharper.

Underpinning this key environmental issue is the process of recycling, involving the re-use of metals, plastics, paper and a range of other manufacturing materials in order to preserve natural resources.

The cost benefits of recycling are clear. World primary production of aluminum is around 24 million tonnes on average a year, the largest producer being Australia, followed by countries such as Jamaica, Brazil, Guinea, China and parts of Europe.

However, recycling aluminum requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions compared with the primary production process, and also reduces the waste going to landfill. Aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, as reprocessing does not damage its structure; it is also the most cost-effective material to recycle.

Recycling steel is cheaper than making it from iron ore. Steel is the most recycled metal in the world, conferring similar benefits to the environment, and a key commodity in the global metal markets. The term used in the American steel recycling industry is ‘putting the pedal to the metal’ in order to satisfy an almost insatiable demand from China’s booming economy, while conserving raw materials and energy.

Bill Heenan, president of the Steel Recycling Institute in the U.S., says: “There has been a steady growth in the steel recycling business. In the USA and Canada we are looking at a 7 to 8% increase in production over the last decade, but with a 45% decrease in energy consumption. In fact this is the only recycling industry where production is rising while energy consumption levels are falling, and we have achieved that via scrap.”

The beauty of scrap steel is that it is available in huge quantities, at least in the western world; and, being magnetic, it is the easiest and most cost-effective mineral to extract from the waste stream. Heenan adds: “We have a head start on countries like China and India in terms of the availability of scrap steel, and this has fueled the market and driven up prices, because these countries desperately need the steel. The challenge for us is to develop new technology that will find more efficient and cost effective ways of extracting and recycling steel to ensure that we can continue to help meet energy and climate change targets as set out in the Kyoto and Rio summits.”

Stuart Foster, a project manager with U.K.-based plastics recycling organization Recoup, says: “That figure may not sound high, but it is a huge leap forward from a decade ago and, as local authority recycling schemes improve, that figure will continue to rise.” Encouragingly, this increase has led to the emergence of the U.K. plastic recycling industry, and the construction of more U.K. plastic reprocessing facilities. In the meantime, the industry still relies heavily on the overseas demand for plastic.

Foster adds: “China is offering very good prices for plastic bottles, and that can make it difficult to develop the indigenous processing business. At the moment around three quarters of all plastic bottles collected for recycling in the U.K. – and a similar proportion in the U.S. – go to export, so the bottom line is that we simply need to collect more bottles.”

Of course, that will depend on how consumers respond to calls to recycle more.

One emerging business that is increasingly assuming a pivotal role in the achievement of recycling and resource recovery is the online Waste Exchange, a concept that actively promotes the re-use and recycling of industry by-products and wastes by enabling materials discarded by one company to be re-used by another.

These can be production by-products, obsolete or unused raw materials, hazardous waste and recyclable products.

European and domestic legislation regarding waste management, such as the introduction of the landfill tax and packaging regulations, has made the disposal of waste a significant drain on financial resources, estimated at around 4.5% of annual turnover.

In the U.S., millions of tonnes of material destined for landfill have been exchanged leading to massive savings for companies on both disposal and material costs.

However, Richard Abramowitz (head of public relations at WM Recycle America) believes that business should be doing more.

He says: “There are a number of well-publicized waste exchanges in the United States, but in general they are still not very widespread. Recycling in the U.S. is way behind other countries, especially in Europe. The problem is there are no federal laws that require businesses to recycle. Various states have requirements to recycle, but most of that is aimed at residential recyclables. The commercial sector is only now beginning to become widespread.”

So what will it take to encourage businesses to buy into the concept of recycling to preserve the Earth’s precious natural resources?

Abramowitz adds: “We are only just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg with regard to sustainability and recycling. Achieving higher recycling rates for businesses is only part of the issue. Many businesses are seeing sustainability as good for business, and recycling is part of that.”