As we move towards the end of 2023, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the value of the learning and insight that has been generated through the Roundtable, to thank you for it and to wish you well for 2024. I would like to extend a special thanks to the Steering Group for its funding and guidance.
Our working groups have had an intense period of activity since the end of the summer with involvement from across the metals recycling value chain and from Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Americas. I would particularly like to thank those of you who gave your time to present your research, approaches, and projects.
One example these have shown us, is the value of breaking down metals recycling value chains and applying different solutions. As metals are found everywhere within products, buildings and infrastructure, post-consumer value chains, in particular, can be incredibly complex. Due diligence may offer a suitable option for understanding and acting on risks in some pre-consumer cycles, but it is clear we also need to finance, incentivise, and scale projects on the ground to create impact in some of the high-risk, harder to track post-consumer parts of the chain.
The interest the Roundtable has generated is testament to the desire to shine a light on and to develop improved solutions to minimise harm to people and the environment from metals collections, processing and recycling. Through our collaboration, we have shared and developed our knowledge of the risks and impacts, the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to reduce them and recommendations to improve them.
While the working groups are drawing to a close, the Roundtable Secretariat and Steering Group are continuing to develop the outputs, which you will see being published and publicised in Spring 2024. We are proud to be part of a mission to increase responsibility in the metals industry and we look forward to further collaboration and an exciting and productive 2024.
Best wishes,
Dave Knight
Convenor, The Roundtable on the Responsible Recycling of Metals