As a major UK recycler of toner cartridges, ECS and ECS The Greener Side were invited to attend a number of seminars and discussions during the first week of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The Recycler spoke with ECS’s Director, Chris Fink, who revealed his initial thoughts and expectations for our industry heading into 2022 following the outcome of the first week of the conference.
Fink explained that the majority of discussions over the first week were encouraging, tackling a number of important issues including coal usage, deforestation, methane emissions, climate change and temperature rise.
ECS added that this year’s climate change meeting has already been positively received in comparison with previous conferences due to the fact that multiple world leaders have already arrived and agreed upon multiple changes that must be made in order to combat climate change – something that would usually only happen towards the final days of any conference.
A draft agreement has now been published, with nearly 200 countries expected to be involved and participate in reaching the goals that are stated in the cover decision. It is expected that countries will cut emissions to avoid temperature rises of above 1.5°C while helping less financially supported countries to deal with the effects of climate change.
Fink added: “Things are certainly heating up at COP26. The goal to try and limit global warming to 1.5°C that was initially agreed in 2016 during the Paris Climate Agreement has now become a necessary target to achieve, not just one of hope and intent. Our first thoughts are that the next decade will be critical in determining whether this target will be reached, as well as that our own industry will have to play a crucial role in doing so.”
Fink, who continued to elaborate on his expectations for our industry said: “We expect the demand for remanufactured products to rise exponentially due to both the outcome of COP26 and the continued financial impact of the pandemic. The choice to use remanufactured cartridges is becoming easier to make for a large majority of companies who want to reduce their impact on both their bottom line and the environment.”
As for recycling, Fink stated “More businesses need to take advantage of the recycling opportunities presented to them. Each cartridge that isn’t dealt with correctly will be unnecessarily contributing to climate change for the next millennium, releasing harmful greenhouse gases in the process. We believe that Governments and environmental agencies will begin to clamp down harder in response to the changes made at this year’s climate conference on those companies who shirk their environmental responsibilities, so it’s better for companies to get a recycling process in place now if they haven’t already.”
With only a few days remaining of COP26 the UK remanufacturer and recycler hopes that more discussions will take place over the recycling and reuse of waste electrical equipment, as well as the many benefits that can be seen by their involvement in the fight against climate change.
