According to a recent article published in a September issue of Recycling and Waste World, more attention need to be paid towards improving the quality of recyclates.
The article explained how members of the reprocessing industry insisted that quality remains a sector challenge.
Roy Georgeson from Resource Association, the trade body for the reprocessing and recycling industries, spoke to Recycling and Waste World:
“The issue of the quality of recyclates does not go away; if anything, attention to it should be heightened.”
Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics supports this view, he said:
“Quality remains the most pressing challenge facing the reprocessing industry.”
He continued:
“Far too much of the material that comes through has unacceptable levels of contaminate within it. Thankfully the signs are that Defra has listened to the concerns of the industry and that the forthcoming MRF regulations will include several key stipulations to address the problem specifically, that the rules must be compulsory and incorporate a robust testing regime, including regular unscheduled tests of MRFs. Full transparency is essential.”
Waste management and resource efficiency, Ricardo AEA, Practice Director, Dr Adam Read, said:
“The issue of quality is more important now than ever before. With co-mingled collections here to stay, guarantees about the ability of MRFs to deliver the level of separation required to meet local recycling targets and, in sufficient volumes and quality to meet the demands of end reprocesses is core to the UK moving further towards a closed loop economy.”
Chief Executive of Closed Loop recycling, Chris Dow, pointed out that:
“Quality cannot be one issue; it needs to be reviewed alongside the packaging waste export recovery notes (PERNs), packaging recovery note system (PRN) and MRF Code of Practice in order to drive demand for quality recyclable material in industry. In addition, collection authorities should get a share of the increased value generated from better quality materials.”
ECO Plastics Managing Director agreed with Chris Down on the point that PRN systems need to be reviewed.
For further views on the issue of the quality of recyclates, please see the latest issue of the Recycling and Waste World magazine by following this link: http://content.yudu.com/A2ecac/recwor5sept13/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=
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