UK materials recycling facility network to double in size

Yesterday saw the chairman of government-funded WRAP, Vic Cocker, advising industry and potential investors about the “dramatic growth” in infrastructure needed to meet government recycling targets up to 2015.

The number of facilities like Veolia's MRF in Greenwich will have to increase significantly according to WRAP's forecasts

Speaking at WRAP's MRF Symposium in central London, he said estimates are that about 1.1 million tonnes of commingled household recyclables are being processed by the nation's materials recycling facilities (MRFs) at the moment.

Based on “very conservative” projections of a rise in national recycling rates to 46% by 2015 and that the proportion of mixed recycling collections will rise from 24% of all recycling to 30%, he said the amount of commingled material needing sorting will rise to 2.3 million tonnes.

Mr Cocker suggested the actual rise in commingled collections could be much higher than this. “Some people think the proportion of commingled collections may go up to 50% – particularly with concerns about cost and health and safety.”

Capacity
Existing MRF infrastructure should theoretically have a 3.5 million tonne maximum capacity, but with normal operational limitations and the total lack of data on commercial waste, Mr Cocker said the actual capacity was nowhere near this theoretical level.

He explained: “The total MRF capacity in the UK is about 3.5 million tonnes at the moment, but this is a theoretical maximum. Plants usually operate at about 85% capacity, and seasonal affects and managed downtime also bring this theoretical maximum down.

“Also, we have no data on commercial and industrial waste – we know more than 500,000 tonnes of this is being sorted,” he added.

The UK currently has 95 MRFs with a processing capacity of more than 50,000 tonnes of material every year, and of these just five have capacity to process more than 100,000 tonnes each year.

Gaps
The WRAP chairman warned of major regional gaps in MRF infrastructure in the UK, claiming just 25,000 tonnes-per-annum capacity exists in the West Midlands and 75,000 tonnes in the North East.

He acknowledged the current debate over quality issues regarding material coming into and leaving UK MRFs, but advised investors of the good returns possible in such projects.

Mr Cocker said: “Sorting plastics, for example, requires about half a million pounds' investment for processing about 10,000 tonnes a year. If that sorting adds 50 per tonne value to the material coming in, the equipment will pay for itself within one year. The economics in this are very strong.”