02/01/2018 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC

News with Ben Thompson

and Samantha Simmonds.

China stops taking

the world's recycling -

so where will it go and what it

will it mean for the

packaging we all use?

Live from London, that's our top

story on Tuesday, 2nd January.

Beijing says the rest of the world's

waste is damaging its environment,

but with few options to fill

the gap, will we all

be recycling less?

Also in the programme...

Browser battles - Google searches

for answers in Asia as it

struggles to keep up with China's

Alibaba.

The new year and new markets

starting on a high. We will assess

what is ahead for 2018.

And we'll be getting

the inside track on the first app

in the world to be approved

as a contraceptive with the nuclear

physicist who came up with the idea.

A new study says happiness

at work improved last year,

but nearly half of us still looking

for a new job this year.

Are you?

Let us know.

Just use the hashtag #BBCBizLive.

Hello and happy New Year and welcome

to Business Live.

The world gets back to work

after the New Year break,

leaving behind piles of plastic,

textiles and paper waste

from the festive season.

Much of the the stuff we recycle

would be shipped to China,

but Beijing is banning imports

of many waste materials this year.

24 different substances

are on the banned list,

as China tries to tackle

environmental damage

caused by hazardous waste.

It's big business -

each year the world uses more

than 800 million metric tons

of scrap commodities

to make new stuff.

And China is the biggest

importer of that.

In 2016, the country took in 27%

of the world's scrap imports.

It's not clear what

will now happen to it.

And it's plastic that's

the biggest worry.

It's one of the most

environmentally damaging materials,

but plastic production is expected

to grow by 40% over the next decade.

Lots of the material finds its way

to China via Hong Kong,

from where Danny Vincent reports.

Recycling in Hong Kong. This may be

where your waste ends up, used

plastic comes from near and far, but

recyclers must now just change the

way the process waste because of

China's new ban on used plastic

products. Hong Kong will face a

challenge when it comes to dealing

with plastic waste. Right now the

majority goes to mainland China but

that could be set to change. The

policy change also represents an

opportunity for recyclers. Waste

management is big business. Hong

Kong has a relatively underdeveloped

recycling sector activists are

hoping the Chinese ban will

encourage Hong Kong companies to do

more to develop the industry. This

is the founder of a community-based

recycling programme.

If the Chinese

policy is run properly, I think

South Asia may take the same policy

also because they do not want to

accept the waste from the other

country, they want good quality

items, good quality recyclable

materials.

For years, Hong Kong

companies depended on China's

appetite for waste products. Now

many plastics are no longer

welcomed, these Hong Kong companies

will have to process the rubbish

themselves, if they wish to make a

profit.

Keith Freegard is vice chairman

of the British Plastics

Federation's Recycling Group.

He joins us now. Warm welcome, happy

New Year. As well as being chairman

of the recycling group, your

businesses recycling. You have a bit

of a show and tell, you recycle

cars, tell us what you do with them.

My company is linked with a business

that recycles about 20% of the UK's

waste motor vehicles, each car

weighs about 1.3 tonnes and this

material is shredded plastic which

we have recovered from the shredding

process for cars. In the past, when

people were only interested in

steel, this would go for waste. But

we see it as a resource.

That is the

sort of stuff that until today would

maybe have gone to China, lots of

ships leave Europe going east,

taking stuff like this, paper,

steel, plastic, and it is press test

-- and it is processed there and

comes back as finished goods. You

are doing it here and it is unusual.

We collect a lot of plastic

packaging, I show you a good

recyclers, you put it in your bin

commie go away, you expect it to be

a useful resource that turns into

new materials -- you put it in your

bin, you go away.

At the moment we

are sending a lot to China. When

China was growing, it was an

opportunity. Now this year they are

saying they will not actually ban

but make sure they only get really

clean materials, they are saying

about 0.5% of waste in a bale of

material, so it is a huge challenge

for the country.

Michael Gove has

accepted they have been slow off the

mark in dealing with this. My

recycling bin is overflowing. You

started this business from scratch,

you invented the technology to take

the plastic out of cars and to

recycle it, you are employing local

people, a British business, what do

other companies who are perhaps

inspired by what you have done need

to do and the Government to make

sure all of the waste we are

producing stays here and gets put to

good use?

One of the key thing is, I

have seen Michael Gove is focused on

making a collection and quality of

material going into the collection

phase better, he says use less types

of plastic, design products which

are much simpler so they are easier

to get a high yield of material out

of, but the area missing is demand

creation. The reason China was so

successful is because it was a huge

demand. Give business people

somewhere to sell something, they

will find it. We need to focus on

creation of demand within the

circular economic model in the UK.

If I can make... Here is our part we

make for a BMW car, I am taking

plastics from old cars, creating

jobs, economic value and wealth in

the UK using UK technology, building

assets, employing UK graduates,

fantastic, and then we are supplying

the UK motor industry. That type of

self sufficient flow of materials to

me is a real opportunity we should

be focusing on.

Really interesting,

really good to talk to you and

thanks for bringing in your bits and

pieces. Nice to see you.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

Aviation industry research has found

that 2017 was the safest year

in history for commercial airlines.

Two separate air consultancies say

no passenger jets crashed

anywhere in the world,

in spite of more flights

being made than ever before.

But one of the firms,

the Dutch consultancy To70,

warned that the extraordinarily low

accident rate must be

seen as good fortune.

Hundreds of Hollywood actresses

and filmmakers have launched

a campaign in the United States

to fight sexual harassment at work.

The Time's Up campaign

is fronted by stars including

Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett.

It aims to tackle harrassment

in Hollywood as well as low paid

jobs in other industries

and is raising money to provide

legal support to women and men

who are abused in the workplace.

The South African retailer Steinhoff

has warned investors

that the company is likely to need

to restate its accounts

prior to 2015.

Steinhoff lost more than 90%

of its market value after it

announced accounting

regularities in December.

What could take on Google and win?

Not much, right?

Wrong.

A little-known web browser

is proving to be a match

for Google's web browser

in parts of Asia.

It's called UC Browser and is owned

by internet giant Alibaba.

Christine Hah has the details

for us from our Asia

business hub in Singapore.

It is interesting, most people will

not have heard of this, yet it is

topping the rankings in some parts

of Asia?

Exactly. If you look at the

global market share for Google and

the macro Google Chrome against UC

Browser, Google has 37% and UC

Browser was launched before Google

Chrome came on the market. If you

look at it today, it UC Browser,

they are getting a lot of market

share, a lot of users in developing

markets like India where it has a

51% market share, Chrome has 30%.

Indonesia, UC Browser is dominating

as well and it matters because these

are two of the last untouched mobile

markets, fastest-growing in the

world. If UC Browser wins these

markets, they have more market share

in the future. It is backed by

Alibaba and takes up much less

memory, faster, built-in

technologies, soap in places where

the internet speed is patchy and

people use cheaper mobile phones, it

is good.

Not often we talk about

Google facing stiff competition from

arrival, but thanks for that. The

new year kicking off with a strong

recession, traders drifting back to

work after the festive break, Hong

Kong, the standout performer.

Most markets still riding the wave

of Donald Trump's tax cut

in the US which it's hoped,

certainly among investors,

will boost US growth.

There's also key US jobs data due

at the end of the week

which will provide fresh clues

about the strength of

the world's biggest economy.

We will talk about that in a moment.

Later today, there's a whole

load of manufacturing

reports from Germany,

France, the UK and the US.

The reports from Germany

and France will be watched

closely, given their strong

performance of late.

Hoping for continued strong

performance.

The FTSE 100 in the UK finished last

year with a record high

and is starting 2018

in a similar manner.

We will talk about what is ahead for

2018 again in just a moment.

And Samira Hussain has

the details about what's ahead

on Wall Street Today.

Tuesday marks the first trading day

of 2018 and many market watchers

believe stocks will keep going

higher in the next several weeks now

that tax reform is done and dusted.

Next on the President's agenda is

passing and Infastructure Bill which

financial markets are also looking

forward to. Things to watch coming

out this week, on Wednesday, we will

get the minutes from the last

meeting of the Federal Reserve, the

US central bank raised interest

rates by 0.25% meeting. On Friday,

we will get the latest look at

America's labour market when the

latest unemployment numbers are

released.

Joining us is James Hughes,

chief market analyst at Axi Trader.

Happy New Year.

Crystal ball time.

2nd of January, the FTSE up slightly

this morning, others down slightly,

what is your vision for what the

markets will do, will they continue

to rally over the coming weeks and

months?

That is literally the

million-dollar question. The key

thing was and we knew from Donald

Trump was my point of view that it

was to get the tax deal done before

Christmas, even put a makeshift West

conference together, the fact it

went through, it has helped the

markets push higher -- makeshift

press conference. The markets have

been rallying on the tax cuts since

the 9th of November when Donald

Trump got into the presidency. The

key thing is, they will continue in

the first month or so of this year,

I would say, in terms of the equity

markets. However we need to look at

huge changes, a new Fed chair at the

end of February probably, a complete

change in the way the markets in the

US particularly look, and the reason

we focus on the US markets is

because that is what drives

everything, we are talking about the

FTSE finishing a record year at the

end of 2017, that is because the US

markets rallied that weight as well.

The markets are fickle with a short

attention span, as soon as something

else comes along, they will be

obsessed about the new thing, and

that is the worry, something else.

That is the truth. Looking at the

whole of last year, we thought the

news about the tax cut would go away

long before it did. We saw North

Korean intentions, tensions all over

the world, big oil industry issues,

yet it still did not detract from

what Donald Trump was going to do in

terms of the tax reform -- North

Korean intentions. The stimulus

pumpkin in the credit crunch has

been taken away, but the taxpayer

has been adding most minutes to the

economy -- the stimulus pumped in in

the credit crunch. The Warriors,

when the markets go up, so

aggressively, the chances are, when

they come down, the moves are just

as aggressive -- the worry is.

Bumpy

ride ahead, perhaps.

Could well be.

Nice to see you.

Still to come...

Could an app replace the pill?

Take your temperature each morning.

On a red day...

We meet the woman who says

technology can work

as a natural contraceptive.

You're with Business

Live from BBC News.

Average rail ticket prices have

risen by 3.4% across the UK,

in the biggest increase

to fares since 2013.

Protests are planned at 40 UK

stations as many commuters face

a £100 increase in the cost

of their season ticket.

Steph McGovern is at

London Bridge Station for us.

Steph, what's happening there? How

much of a protest. It looks quiet

behind you?

Yes, good morning. No

protests here. It is fairly mixed

views. This is London Bridge

Station. Fourth busiest in the UK

and yeah, this is a station that's

had a £1 billion revamp over the

last five years and when you talk to

ministers about why we have these

rail increases one of the big

reasons they say is because we need

to make sure the network is

modernised to cope with the demand

of everyone using it. There are

mixed views. Some people who think

the train fare increase is OK for

them because they see that things

need to change. Others saying hang

on a minute, I have been on an

overcrowded train. I haven't got a

seat. I don't want to keep paying

more money. Dead easy to find people

to talk to you about train fares

here. Not least, the Chief Executive

of Network Rail, Mark, who is with

us this morning. I know you are

pleased to see this done on time and

all that jazz, but looking at the

bigger picture can you understand

why some people are a bit miffed

that train fares have gone up?

Absolutely. Of, course, I can

understand that, especially if they

are on congested trains. Now, we are

working really hard, up and down the

country to improve the quality of

services for people and we're

carrying out the biggest investment

programme on railways since

Victorian times. This is just one

example of the kinds of projects

that we're delivering. In the next

year people are going to see a huge

improvement because we've got the

Great Western electrification

project and the Waterloo upgrade and

Crossrail coming here and Thameslink

and the Great North Rail Project and

Edinburgh and Glasgow elect

trification, huge investment, 5,000

new trains and people will start to

see the benefit.

Some people are

saying they feel like they have

heard this for a long time?

These

projects take a long time to deliver

and I'm hugely grateful to

passengers for their patience during

the times of disruption. But you

know, Rome wasn't built in a day and

these projects take a number of

years to complete, but in the next

year, you see, there is going to be

a change change.

Huge change. That's

it from me at London Bridge.

You're watching Business Live.

Our top story:

China says it will stop taking much

of the world's recycling as it tries

to clean up its own environment. It

is concerned about the waste

products that are shipped there for

recycling.

A quick look at how

markets are faring.

The FTSE. And the DAX and CAC down

slightly.

One of the most important decisions

many of us will make

during our lifetimes

is whether or not to have a baby.

It's why the fertility industry

is such big business.

But would you be prepared

to put your decisions

in the hands of an app?

It's thought that the global

market for contraceptives

will be worth $33.6 billion

in the next five years.

But the potential is even bigger.

The UN says that worldwide

758 million women of reproductive

age and in a relationship use some

form of contraception.

But our next guest has just raised

more money to develop an app

which could help women

with their family planning.

It means Natural Cycles has raised

a total of $36 million.

Dr Elina Berglund is

the Chief Technology Officer

and co-founder of Natural Cycles.

The inventor of this app, welcome up

to. Happy New Year. Explain how it

works.

Happy New Year to you as

well. Natural Cycles is the only

certified contraceptive app in the

world. It works in the way that

users measure their temperature with

a thermometer in the morning and

enters it into the app and our

algorism runs in the background and

returns a red day if there is risk

of pregnancy or a green day if there

is no risk of pregnancy.

How

reliable is it? People putting this

in the hands of an app. They might

feel a little worried?

They do at

first, but when they understand that

technology and the medicine that's

underlying, it's actually not rocket

science in the end and I should

know. We are performed three

clinical studies to date and the

last clinical study is the largest

study that's been performed on

natural contraception and it shows

that the effectiveness of the method

is compared to the pill. So it is

less effective than a method that's

inside your body, but as effective

as the pill.

The temperature

indicates when you have been

ovulating. Women have been using

thermometers to discover when is the

best time to get pregnant?

The

medical research is old. We have

applied statistics and mathematics

from my time in particle physics to

make this old method effective and

user-friendly.

I want to talk about

your time as a particle physicist,

you still do that, but an

interesting background. You were

involved in the work at Sern, how do

you make the leap from that to what

you're currently working on?

Well,

that's a long story! So, I was part

of a team that discovered the higs

particle in 2012. From my own need

of an effective natural

contraceptive method I used my

programmal knowledge to develop the

algorism to use myself, but then my

husband was also my co-founder and I

realised this was a huge business

opportunity as well so we decided to

make this algorism into an app so

all women and couples could profit

from the innovation.

The idea it is

for women who don't want to use

normal contraception such as the

pill or the coil, or things, they

don't want to put other stuff in

their body. Is that what was behind

the body?

When it comes to

contraception it is important to

provide choice because one method

doesn't fit all women and also not

necessarily throughout her whole

reproductive lifetime. We want to

provide an effective way for women

to prevent pregnancy without

alternating their body and instead

understanding their body which can

be very empowering.

It is

fascinating. Thank you for

explaining that.

Thank you.

Best of

luck with it.

In a moment we'll take a look

through the business pages,

but first here's a quick reminder

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what you need to know,

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James is back with us. It is New

Year, new job and all that sort of

thing. I was interested in this. It

was in the Independent, happiness at

work improves, but for nearly half

of UK employees they will be looking

for a new job. We're happier at

work, but we can't be that happy if

we're looking for a new job.

This

time last year, 59% were looking for

a new job. This year it is 49%.

Still half of the workforce. But I

think when you look at some of the

situations, you look at the economic

data, it is wage growth which is the

issue. I think and it's important to

know that not everyone is driven to

change jobs by money, but you have

in the UK at moment you have

household debt at its record levels

and debt per person without

mortgages is around £8,000 per

person in the UK. So when you look

at situations like that and you look

at the fact that wage growth isn't

rising at the same right as

inflation people are looking at

themselves in the New Year and

saying well, the reason I need to

change job is so my wages will

increase. That's one of the big

reasons why this actually does

happen.

What does that mean for

employers? We know how difficult

retaining staff can be. It's quite a

cost, isn't it, every time you have

got a new staff member coming in, so

they want to keep turnover low?

Exactly. Companies want to keep

turnover low. In the UK, business

isn't necessarily thriving. So, a

lot of smaller companies don't have

the ability to raise the wages of

their staff members. They want to

keep their staff, but they can't

raise the wages. You have got debt

at very high levels. So there are

issues, but it's not just the fact

that people are looking to move

because of wages. There are so many

other aspects of people looking to

change their job for different

reasons, career, personal

circumstances, there is a lot.

We

have got one tweet from Jay Wallace

who says that, they say I am looking

for a new career having just turned

36. He said he had testicular cancer

and made him reassess and life is

too short not to be happy. Olivia

said she is thinking about going

overseas.

Well, enjoy. You can still

watch us. We are on BBC World News

around the world.

Let's talk about the airline story,

2017, the safest year for air

travel. It's a good news story, but

they say it's a lucky coincidence?

You always worry about a story like

this, don't you? There is one good

thing from a business point of view,

the airline industry which has

struggled for a number of years

after the credit crunch has some

positive news to talk about and

something that could well help to

boost its numbers by saying 2017 is

the safest year, but as you say,

within that story, it does say that

a lot of these this is down to luck,

but they say, and again, this is the

amazing stat, they say it is one in

16 million chance of being in a

fatal air crash. It is what some of

these scientists will say.

A cheery

thought.

Exactly right. Happy New

Year.

Happy New Year to you too.

Thank you for your company. We will

see you soon. Bye-bye.