A call for evidence has been issued by a new Parliamentary inquiry examining the growth potential of the UK’s remanufacturing sector.
The inquiry, chaired by former Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman MP and Barry Sheerman MP, is being jointly conducted by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Manufacturing (APMG) and Sustainable Resource (APSRG).
The inquiry follows the APSRG’s March 2014 report “Remanufacturing: Towards a Resource Efficient Economy” (download here) which laid out key growth opportunities and challenges facing the UK remanufacturing sector.
The new inquiry will build on the report, exploring ways in which lessons can be learned from best practice case studies in key industries (such as the automotive industry) and applied to currently under-performing remanufacturing sectors, including waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
It will examine the extent to which current government policy is structured towards promoting such remanufacturing growth, as well as analysing how different businesses have successfully adopted remanufacturing processes into their business models. In particular, the inquiry will consider the benefits of alternative types of business models, such as servitisation, in better supporting remanufacturing growth.
The window for evidence submissions to the closes on Friday 26th September and the inquiry will issue its final report before Christmas 2014, complete with recommendations for how government can further spark the uptake of remanufacturing across sectors.
Speaking ahead of the publication of the call for evidence, inquiry co-chair Caroline Spelman MP said:
“This new inquiry comes at a critical time. It is clear to us the importance of remanufacturing in terms of both resource security and economic potential is not yet fully appreciated by Parliamentarians or UK industry. The future of manufacturing is inextricably linked to environmental sustainability, reducing the consumption of virgin raw materials, and exploiting new areas of comparative advantage. We believe the government must do more – firstly to better understand the huge environmental and economic potential that remanufacturing offers, and secondly to create precisely the policy and regulatory framework needed in order for UK businesses to fully embrace it.”
Fellow inquiry co-chair Barry Sheerman MP added: “This inquiry allows us to ask detailed questions about how we can put remanufacturing at the heart of the UK economy. What are the barriers to take up? How can they be addressed at local, national and international levels? What can government do? What can manufacturers do? What role can SMEs play in sparking small scale remanufacturing innovation? This inquiry is not about banging drums to prove the benefits of remanufacturing – the benefits are clear. This inquiry is about finding out what we need to do now and in the future to put a more resilient UK at the forefront of global remanufacturing innovation.”
