Published on WRAP’s Materials Facility Reporting Portal this morning, the data charts the volume of ‘target’ and ‘non-target’ material received at registered MRFs from October to December 2015.
The data suggests that the level of input contamination at MRFs has remained broadly stable at close to 14% in England, and 12% in Wales since MRF operators were required to begin sampling and reporting the quality of loads in October 2014.
And, across the four specified output material streams (metal, paper, plastic and glass), WRAP reports that the lowest average percentage of output target material is 89.8% for England, and 85.2% for Wales.
Comparison
Comparing the data to previous quarters shows that there has been no major trends in either direction for material going into and coming out of MRFs during the 15 months that the reporting requirements have been in effect.
In fact, since October 2014 the available data shows that the volume of target material received at the front end of facilities has declined slightly – starting at 86.6% in England and 90.6% in Wales during Q4 2014 – to 86% for England and 88.4% for Wales.
Despite this, WRAP has warned that although the reporting requirements having now been in effect for five quarters, it is still too early to draw any firm conclusions from the data, stating: “the reporting process is still relatively new and users are advised to take this into account when analysing this data.”
The figures, which were published on the WRAP Materials Facility portal, are the fifth set published under sampling and reporting obligations for MRF operators receiving more than 1,000 tonnes of mixed waste each year.
‘Transparency’
The regulations aim to bring ‘more transparency’ to the sorting and recycling of household waste by requiring MRF operators receiving more than 1,000 tonnes of mixed waste each year have been required to report the quality of input and output material sorted at facilities.
During previous quarters, concerns had been raised over the number of facilities that had failed to report any data to the Environment Agency – which had then been forced to write to operators to remind them of their legal obligations.
Analysis of the latest data shows that there has been a slight increase in the number of facilities providing MRF quality data – an additional six facilities in England reporting compared to the previous quarter.
This takes the total number providing data to 90, but as there are thought to be more than 160 MRFs in England to which the Regulations apply, this is still some way short of providing an overall picture of how the country’s MRFs are performing.
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