Recycling fear on emissions trading

Age
Friday 14/11/2008 Page: 5

THE recycling industry has warned it could become a perverse victim of emissions trading, with plants that help cut Australia's carbon footprint risk being forced to close and hundreds of jobs lost. Industry body the Australian Council of Recyclers says that while some recycling companies will have to bear the full cost of buying greenhouse permits and higher electricity costs, big emitters using virgin materials will qualify for free permits.

In a submission to the Government, the council's chief executive Anne Prince said jobs would be lost and the industry scaled back as recycling - and its carbon emissions - was exported to more viable countries, such as China. "Nearly all the recycling industry is likely to be adversely affected by this policy including paper, glass, metals, plastics, tyres, motor vehicles and electronic waste reprocessing," she said.

The council backs emissions trading, but calls for a complementary scheme that rewards industries that recover energy and stop degradable organic carbon going to landfill. Recycling giant Visy has warned that the Government's emissions trading proposal would force it to close recycling and paper mills in Melbourne and Sydney, at a cost of 160 jobs.

It estimates a carbon price of $20 a tonne will mean it costs $18.80 more to produce a tonne of recycled cardboard than the cost for a company that uses non-recycled material. Amcor Australasia sustainability and recycling general manager Andrew Vanstone said emissions trading alone did not reflect the host of ways in which recycling helped the environment.

"It becomes more viable for recycling to be shipped overseas, converted into paper and brought back," be said. "There isn't recognition that recycling a tonne of paper means you avoid about 2.1 tonnes of carbon from landfill." The recycling industry has an annual turnover of nearly $12 billion, and in 2006 directly employed nearly 11,000 people.

The Boomerang Alliance estimates recovering all recyclable material that goes to landfill could cut Australia's emissions by 7%. Under the Government's emissions green paper, the most carbon intensive emitters will receive either 90% or 60% of carbon permits free. There is no compensation for industries that have already taken steps to cut emissions.

"It is really tipping the scales against those who have been doing the right thing for a long time," Environment Victoria campaigns director Mark Wakeham said. The world's biggest zinc producer Nyrstar, which does not qualify for free permits, said this week that emissions trading would lead to it closing its smelters in Tasmania and South Australia, costing thousands of jobs. The final design of the Government's emissions scheme is due to be released before the end of the year.