We recognise that for many of you, how parties’ policies impact your business, or your employer, may influence your vote. So, we have analysed six of the main parties’ manifestos, and will discuss how they impact metal recyclers using a RAG-rating system.

On the 4 July, people will be heading to the polls to cast their vote.

We recognise that for many of you, how parties’ policies impact your business, or your employer, may influence your vote. So, we have analysed six of the main parties’ manifestos, and will discuss how they impact metal recyclers using a RAG-rating system.
 
BMRA will be issuing a series of articles to discuss different policy areas based on BMRA’s full RAG-rating manifesto audit available below.

 

Today we discuss three areas – waste, recycling and policing.
 
This general election represented an opportunity to consecrate the role of metals recycling and the wider waste sector in establishing a circular economy, which benefits the environment and UK’s financial economy. Unfortunately, not only has metals recycling failed to gain traction in any of the manifestos, but the wider waste sector has only been sparsely mentioned too.
 
The failure to discuss waste is apparent most obviously in SNP’s manifesto, but can be explained away as environmental policy is a devolved matter.
 
On the other hand, for both the Labour Party and Reform UK, it was disappointing that their only relevant policies were respectively ‘to reduce waste by moving to a circular economy’ and that ‘UK can do more tree planting, more recycling, and less single use plastics’. Given BMRA supports both these missions, we have given Labour and Reform UK a positive, green light.
 
The Conservatives detail two policies with relevance to BMRA members. First, that they will continue to develop a UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and second, that the they will prevent new waste incinerators being built, including those with recent permit approvals.
 
BMRA welcomes the principle of a DRS, which encourages recycling over the continued use of virgin materials. However, it is important to understand what model of DRS – a flat rate or variable rate – Conservatives intend to implement, and that is not yet clear. A flat-rate model, for example, risks consumers switching to plastic from metal, when faced with paying an upfront deposit of £4.80 on top of the purchase price of a 24-can multipack compared with a deposit of 80p for four large plastic bottles containing the same amount of liquid.
 
Fortunately, with the DRS policy, the indecision does provide industry an opportunity to influence the Deposit Management Organisation (when created) who will be making the decision. Where influencing will be challenging is on Tories’ pledge to prevent new waste incinerators being built, including even those with recent permit approvals. For BMRA, this decision lacks pragmatism. BMRA’s preferred solution on incinerators would have been to commit to review existing treatment capacity for existing problematic waste streams such as hazardous and POPs wastes and forecast future supply.
 
Like Labour, Liberal Democrats also support a transition to a circular economy, and like the Conservatives, they support the introduction of a DRS, with the modal type to-be-confirmed.
 
They have more to say on waste and recycling however, with two further policies of note. The first a promise to ban the use of single-use vapes, which is welcomed by BMRA. BMRA believes this policy may – in the long-term – decrease the volume of fires we are witnessing on metal recycling sites.
 
A policy less welcomed by BMRA is Liberal Democrats’ ambition to end plastic waste exports by 2030. We fear, similar to Conservative’s policy on waste incinerators that there are more pragmatic solutions to plastic waste. On the face of it, this policy would go even further than EU’s new Waste Shipment Regulations which will prohibit the export of EU’s plastic waste to non-OECD countries for a period of a 2.5 years (from Nov 2026). As currently understood, BMRA believes a complete prohibition of plastic waste exports could have a negative impact on industry, but if the Lib Dems were to delineate between durable plastics and single-use, our analysis would change accordingly.
 
The Green Party has, unsurprisingly, the most to say about waste, but have largely focused on re-use and repair, rather than recycling. This includes three polices: first, all materials from demolished buildings will need to be considered for reuse; second, Greens will introduce a comprehensive ‘right to repair’; third, will require manufacturers to offer ten-year warranties on white goods. Whilst increasing re-use and decreasing planned obsolescence are laudable goals, BMRA is concerned that progressing these goods further up the waste hierarchy will reduce scrap availability, when scrap demand is on the rise. As a result, BMRA has given these policies an amber rating.
 
BMRA members will be pleased to see that four out of the six parties have something to say on policing. Both the Greens and SNP fail to talk about policing with relevance to metal recyclers, but the latter’s position again can be explained away as justice and policing is a devolved matter.
 
For three of those four, the policy is to increase the number of neighbourhood police officers. For Conservatives, this an additional 8,000 officers, whilst Labour promise ‘thousands more’ and Reform UK will ensure for every 100,000 people, they are 300 police officers. BMRA provides a green rating for all these policies as a greater police presence on streets and roads could decrease instances of metal theft.
 
For readers, Liberal Democrats arguably offer the two most interesting policies – creating a statutory guarantee that all burglaries will be attended by police and properly investigated, and properly resourcing the National Crime Agency to tackle organised crime groups. The former should give confidence to members who currently feel let down by police’s lack of will to investigate non-domestic burglaries. The latter policy, if effectively implemented, should go some way to reducing incidences of metal thefts on site as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Metal, Stone and Heritage Crime’s Tackling Metal Theft report found the majority of metal thefts are perpetrated by OCGs. Like their adversaries, Lib Dems obtain green ratings on their policing policies.

Key:

Green - positively impacts metal recyclers
Amber - Impact could positively and/or negatively impact metal recyclers
Red - negatively impacts metal recyclers 

Waste and recycling

Crime and policing: