EP0W conference highlights industry contradictions

I was at the European pathway to zero waste conference on Monday, which again highlighted the increasingly common divergence between policy wonks - who believe that the UK's waste and resources sector is on the verge of unlocking hiterto unrealised huge potential value from discarded materials (i.e. rubbish) - and those who have to deliver new projects in the sector in practice.

Lower than previously anticipated waste volumes are putting downward pressure on gate fees at the front end of the industry, while falling commodity prices are also hurting revenues at the back end. This reality is a far cry from the fantastic figures bandied around for the supposed billions of dollars of opportunities to be made from secondary resources.

To an outsider, waste projects must look like a high risk, low return proposition. It's no wonder we need the Green Investment Bank's support in the debt market, and the help of public grants for many smaller-scale projects.