New data from the Association of European Producers of Steel Packaging (APEAL) suggests that the recycling of cans and other steel containers in the EU is becoming well established. Last year's recycling rate topped 60 per cent across the continent, a figure that represents an 8 per cent growth in collected and recycled tonnage compared to last year.
This means that the steel packaging industry has now reached its voluntary objective of 60 per cent that it set itself for 2005. And in terms of meeting the legal requirements, steel significantly contributes to reaching the EU recycling target for metal packaging (steel and aluminium), which the Packaging Directive has set at 50 per cent by the year 2008.
In this respect, steel packaging has been vitally important. In 2002, steel packaging was the most recycled packaging material in Europe, followed by glass at 57 per cent. Across the continent, recycled quantities have tripling within the space of a decade.
There is a fair degree of variation from country to country, however. The nation leading the field in steel packaging recycling by some way is still Belgium at 93 per cent, followed by a group of countries in the 70 to 80 per cent recycling range made up of Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Luxembourg.
Norway, with a 60 per cent recycling rate, reaches the European average, with Italy at 55 per cent and Spain and Ireland both at 51 per cent. France has a recycling rate of 57 per cent, while the United Kingdom lags some away behind at 42 per cent. However, the country has made a 5 per cent advance compared with 2001.
Finland has a relatively poor recycling rate of 39 per cent, which is somewhat surprising given the size of the country's packaging sector. Portugal, at 28 per cent, remains at the 2001 level, but has already exceeded the minimum recycling rate of 15 per cent that it had to reach under law by the end of 2005.
APEAL believes that Europe stands out favourably in an international context. Only Japan and South Africa, with 86 per cent and 63 per cent respectively, exceed the European average. And because of steel's magnetic properties, it lends itself easily to automatic extraction by electromagnet in sorting centres, composting centres or in household waste incinerators. This makes the material very convenient to recycle.
Although Europe has made impressive strides in achieving good steel packaging recycling ratios, a number of factors still exist that are likely to inhibit the growth of the recycling sector in the near future. These include the continued lack of a properly coordinated collection infrastructure. And APEAL suggests that recycling rates for steel packaging are likely to level off in the next few years, given the very high rates already reached in most European countries.
In the meantime, there is much to be celebrated. For example, as much as 3 million tons of iron ore and 1.4 million tons of coal did not have to be extracted in 2002 thanks to the recycling of steel packaging in Europe. Increased recycling contributes towards sustainable use of resources through the saving of raw materials and the resulting energy.
APEAL, the Association of European steel packaging producers, represents more than 90 per cent of total European steel packaging production. Among its members are Arcelor Packaging International, Corus Packaging Plus and Rasselstein Hoesch.