The Waste & Resources Action Programme has published three reports that aim to boost quality levels at Materials Recovery Facilities.
The three reports touch on scale, quality and investment.
Covering the specification, operation and costs of Materials Recovery Facilities, and drawing on good practice in MRF design and management from the United States and Europe, the reports explore:
• The principles of MRF operation, efficiency and quality standards;
• Capacity, costs and economies of scale; and
• Contractual arrangements to support investment and deliver high output quality.
"MRFs play a critical role in ensuring that the materials that the public recycles realize their full value and are put to good, productive use," said Phillip Ward, WRAP’s director for Waste Implementation Programmes. "Poor sorting of some commingled recyclables can significantly reduce the value of the recovered materials, cause difficulties for UK reprocessors and adversely affect household waste recycling rates."
"Although few local authorities operate MRFs themselves, they do procure MRF services from private contractors. Understanding how the collection and sorting of recovered materials depend on each other and affect the sale value will ensure that local authorities can make better informed decisions when specifying the services they require."
The three studies commissioned by WRAP are: MRF Case Study Review, which looks at material sorting practices and technologies employed in a cross-section of MRFs in England, the USA and Europe; MRF Cost Model and User Guide, which provides a costing tool for different materials sorting options; and Contractual Arrangements between Local Authorities and MRF Operators, which reviews and assesses existing contractual relationships between MRF operators and local authorities across the UK.
A summary document entitled Recovering Value from MRFs draws together the results of the studies and is intended as an introduction for those unfamiliar with the issues surrounding the specification, operation and costs of MRFs. The full reports and summary are available at www.wrap.org; the Cost Model is available on request.
The results of a fourth study, quantifying existing sorting capacity and estimating future requirements, will be published shortly.