letsrecycle.com

Manchester’s MRF contamination down as restrictions ease

Contamination at Manchester’s materials recycling facility (MRF) fell by 6.6% in the first quarter of 2021/22 when compared to the same time last year, in part due to “the removal of Covid-19 restrictions”.  

Manchester MRF
Suez has a range of UK activities, including the Greater Manchester contract, which has a MRF at Longley Lane

Suez manages the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s (GMCA) Longley Lane MRF as part of a £1 billion deal for two contracts signed in 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Longley Lane facility sorts commingled recycling such as glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans, foil, aerosols, and plastic bottles from kerbside collections across the Greater Manchester area.

A report which will go before the GMCA next week shows that the commingled MRF contamination rate between April and June was 14.54%, down from 21.18% in the first quarter of 2020/21.

The report notes there has been a “large reduction” in loads rejected by Suez. A total of 588 tonnes was rejected at the MRF, compared with 2,594 tonnes in the previous year.

The report’s author Justin Lomax, head of contract services at GMCA’s waste and resources team, writes: “Factors in this hugely encouraging trend will undoubtedly be affected by the removal of Covid-19 restrictions but will also be significantly contributed to by the efforts and schemes of the communications and collection teams and the subsequent improvements in the accuracy of resident recycling behaviour.”

In other encouraging news for the authority, the report shows the recycling rate across Suez’s contracts edged up by 0.2% to 47.83%, despite waste arisings jumping by around 40,000 tonnes.

HWRCs

Suez also manages Manchester’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) as part of its deal. At the 20 sites, the combined household waste recycling rate rose by more than 10% to 50%.

Visitor numbers have stayed below levels seen in the pre-Covid-19 years, Mr Lomax says, with around 1.6 million visits in the first quarter of 2021/22.

Tonnage data also shows that there was more than 8% less material going through the HWRCS than during the same period in the last two pre-Covid-19 years.

In the first quarter of 2021/22, the total waste arisings managed under Suez’s two contracts rose to nearly 309,000 tonnes, more than 40,000 tonnes higher than during the same period in 2020/21.

There has also been a slight increase in the overall amount of material diverted from landfill, to around 98%.

Manchester

Representing an estimated population of 2.8 million, the GMCA had a recycling rate of 47.7% in the 2019/20 financial year, the latest available data.

Share this article with others

Subscribe for free

Subscribe to receive our newsletters and to leave comments.

Back to top

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get the latest waste and recycling news straight to your inbox.

Subscribe