The MRF environment has previously suffered with the stigma of traditional waste industry views on how waste treatment looks.
Todays facilities are multi-million pound investments with the ability to utilise technology to mechanically sort more detailed specific grades be it plastic, metals or paper.
In general all elements of the industry have moved on, including the introduction of regulations on the quality of material that leaves a MRF. However, it seems that the way staff are selected, trained and engaged in the MRF has not. This means that MRFs can fail to operate at the level they are capable of as the staff within them are largely untrained and unskilled for the job in hand.
Quality
In many MRFs the sort line operators are not recognised as the key to quality and finishing of the material or products. Neither are they treated as a major defence against expensive equipment failure and damage or engaged in improving the overall improvement in efficiency and systems of the plant.
MRF managers should ask themselves some questions about their workforce, i.e. do all the operators understand the grades and materials of products being produced or why they are contaminated?
The question of training can be difficult for MRF managers to address, particularly when such a large percentage of agencies have a lack of understanding abouttheir workforce . However, the quality of a MRFs product is dependent on their knowledge and understanding of the materials that they are looking for, without this, MRFs will fail to meet the demand and operate successfully in new markets. Therefore, in order to improve the knowledge and skills of operators in this demanding environment, MRF managers need to invest in the training of their staff and build good relationships with quality agencies and training providers.
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