WRAP says quality is priority for next four years

Liz Goodwin was speaking to letsrecycle.com following the Waste and Resources Action Programme's (WRAP) open meeting in London (October 11, 2007). At the event, Dr Goodwin outlined the organisation's priorities for the next year which will be incorporated into its business plan for 2008 to 2011.

They included driving-up the quality of recyclables, the prevention and treatment of food waste and the management of mixed plastics collections.

Quality

She said that the quality of material collected had got to improve “either through increased kerbside sort or improving the performance of materials recycling facilities” (MRFs).

After the event, the chief executive explained that WRAP wanted to work closely with waste management companies operating MRFs, including those who had facilities abroad, and could give examples of best practice.

Dr Goodwin said driving up the quality in MRFs would “probably require some investment in technology”. And, although, she was not able to go into details she added: “Some of the technology in the UK is probably not quite as good as it should be.”

WRAP has already begun reviewing MRF technology and sorting processes to see how quality can improve (see letsrecycle.com story).

Food waste

Dr Goodwin said the organisation was to commission research on mixed plastics and how they could best be sorted following collection from households. And, its food waste collection trials involving 17 local authorities is likely to be completed by Christmas.

In terms of the food waste schemes, the chief executive added: “We are getting some very good feedback and anecdotal evidence that participation rates are high. I have also heard that when people collect food waste separately, they see how much they are putting in, and it drops off.”

She explained this decline occurred because people began to minimise their food waste when they realised how much they were throwing away.
Achievements

At the event, Dr Goodwin also highlighted what WRAP considered its best achievements in the last year. This included its work with the Olympic Delivery Authority to secure a recycling commitment of 20% for the Games' major infrastructure projects.

She also praised the work carried out to prevent waste and highlighted particularly how 92% of the grocery sector had signed up to the Courtauld Commitment to reduce packaging.

She added that since the Quality Protocol for compost had been launched in May – which classified the material as a product instead of a waste – there had been a 40% increase in registrations to the accredited scheme.