First quarterly MRF sampling data released

Data measuring the input and output of material recovery facilities (MRFs) across England and Wales has been published for the first time today (16 July) by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

The release of the quarterly data, which covers the period of October to December 2014, follows new sampling obligations for MRF operators that receive more than 1,000 tonnes of mixed waste each year.

Those that fall under the obligations must provide quarterly details of the mixed waste tonnage received from each supplier and the output tonnage despatched by four material streams.

MRFs are also required to take samples of the input and output material so that the average percentage of target, non-target and non-recyclable material can be estimated.

Reporting measures were introduced as part of the MF Regulations, also know as the Code of Practice, in order to bring greater transparency to the treatment of household waste in England and Wales.

According to the Resource Association, the professional advocacy body for the reprocessing and recycling industries, contamination at MRFs costs the UK £51 million a year, and it is hoped that these regulations will help to increase the recyclate quality. WRAP released guidance on MRF sampling last year in order to help facilities comply with the new regulations.

86.6 per cent of incoming material is recyclable

The data shows that, in total, 86 MRFs in England submitted data for this period (Q4), with eight responding from Wales.

Though averages can be taken from the data, WRAP does warn that ‘users should observe caution when attempting to draw conclusions from this initial data’.

It notes that ‘this a new process for MRFs to comply with and the initial data suggests some inconsistency in reporting’, though data quality is expected to improve over the coming quarters as measurement processes are refined.

England

According to WRAP, the material entering the 86 English MRFs over Q4 – which totalled 789,395 tonnes – could be ‘attributed directly’ to 195 local authorities and 168 other suppliers such as waste management companies or other waste facilities.

The average percentage by weight of target material received by responding English MRFs was 86.6 per cent. Paper made up an average of 51.7 per cent of this, with glass providing 15.9 per cent of input, plastics 12.9 per cent and metals 5.9 per cent.

On average, 7.7 per cent of material received by MRFs was non-recyclable.

When reporting output, each MRF submitted data for each particular grade of Specified Output Material (SOM). In England, the total tonnage of SOM leaving MRFs was 582,107 tonnes.

Nearly 97 per cent of the paper leaving MRFs was made up on target material, on average. This was the least variable of all outputs with half of the responding samples falling between 95.3 per cent and 99 per cent.

Plastic, meanwhile, was the most variable, with an inter-quartile range of 89.1 per cent to 97.9 per cent and an average of 92.1 per comprised of target material.

Metal recorded an average of 94.6 per cent, and glass an average of 92.0 per cent.

Wales

The total tonnage of material entering the eight MRFs in Wales was 63,128 tonnes with an average of 90.6 per cent target material, four percentage points higher than in England.

Paper again made up the bulk of this, registering 56.3 per cent on average, with glass 18.0 per cent, plastics 10.7 per cent and metals 5.1 per cent.

MRFs reported an average of 4.5 per cent of total material weight proved to be non-recyclable, again an improvement on English figures, and 57,243 tonnes of SOM left responding MRFs in Wales.

Output inter-quartile ranges were not published for MRFs in Wales due to the smaller number of samples making them ‘less meaningful’, but paper, like England, accounted for the highest percentage of average targeted material with 96.9 per cent.

Similarly glass was the lowest with 84.0 per cent – eight points lower than data received from England. Metal and plastic recorded figures of 93.1 per cent and 01.4 per cent respectively.

The next tranche of data, covering January to March 2015, will be released in September.

Regulations to bring ‘transparency and quality’

Responding to the landmark publication of the data, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management’s Deputy Chief Executive Chris Murphy, said: “The development of these regulations underlined this sector’s commitment to transparency and quality, and this first set of data provides useful insight into how the new system is bedding in.

“We now need to use this information effectively to ensure that the regulations are appropriately implemented and enforced to promote good practice throughout the industry.”

Resource Association Chief Executive Ray Georgeson, commented: “We recognise that Defra, the Environment Agency and WRAP have worked very hard to establish processes from scratch to implement the new MF Regulations and they are to be congratulated on a good start with good engagement with all key stakeholders in the effective delivery of the regulations.

“Clearly, no grand conclusions should be taken from one quarter’s worth of data, especially when the early stages of implementation have meant that potentially a significant number of MRFs haven’t in fact supplied data and become compliant. 

“We know that strenuous efforts are being made to rectify this and we join with the Environmental Services Association in an open call to all MRF operators that have so far failed to submit data under the MF Regulations to act quickly in the interests of the whole industry to demonstrate compliance and ensure that the objectives of the regulations – to improve transparency and market knowledge about the quality of input and output from MRFs – is delivered successfully.”

The Environmental Services Association’s (ESA) Recycling Policy Advisor, Jakob Rindegren, said that it had taken “a lot of work to get to this point, but we are still only in the beginning of a learning process”.

He added: “However, it is important that all sites that should be covered by the regulations are fully compliant. We expect the Environment Agency, as soon as possible, to investigate all sites that they thought would notify but for some reason or another didn’t. This is something ESA will monitor closely.

“We also join the Resource Association in calling on all MRF operators falling within the scope of the Regulations that have not yet notified, or submitted their data, to do so. “

The CEO of the Recycling & Recovery UK division of SUEZ environnement, David Palmer-Jones, said that he estimated it will "require at least 18 months of  consistent input before this body of information paints a true picture of MRF input and output quality across England and Wales".

He continued: "However, at this stage, we do have concerns that only 90 MRFs have notified the regulator and submitted data which, we believe, is just over half of the facilities which could, and should, be required to participate. The data cannot provide a true reflection of recycling quality across England and Wales until the regulator can be satisfied that all who should be participating are doing so. Furthermore, looking at the data, it seems clear to us that there is still some work to do to ensure that all operators are taking a consistent approach to the application of terminology for "non target" and "contamination" - as this can, and will, skew results. In our view, contamination should be any material that cannot be classified as dry recyclate, rather than any material that can be theoretically recycled in alternative facilities (ie food waste)." 

See the data at WRAP’s Materials Facility Reporting Portal.