LAWR

April 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 23 To maximise efficiency and profitability, it is imperative that MRF operators and local authorities look for opportunities to make the best possible use of every potential recyclate going through each facility. I have lost count of the amount of times that I have visited clients to see them walking around the sorting plant constantly looking at the process to optimise and improve it with each meeting accompanied by the sentence: "Trevor, while you are here can you look at…." The need for this flexibility can be seen when we look at current issues facing the waste industry, such as the banning certain types of material going to landfill, or the potential effect of the introduction of carrier bag tax – both of which would have profound impacts on the nature of material passing through most MRFs. It's fair to say that this impact on a MRF which has been specifically designed to process certain tonnages of certain materials is often not considered when such developments are proposed by Government. At Stadler, we believe that there needs to be an acknowledgement that banning products from waste collection and/or landfill without considering their implications for the operational MRFs is not the way forward for the industry. Whilst waste management contracts have the ability to change as a result of legislation, the physical nature of MRFs is another story. We need to look at operational factors such as how is this change going to affect the operation of the MRF? Also, what impact will any changes have on financial returns? For example, in some cases, removing a product from the process can have a significant impact on the ability of the plant to maintain its purity levels. In our opinion, the fairest and simplest way of doing this is to continue to increase landfill tax over a reasonable time frame allowing MRFs to be adapted for changes in input materials over a workable time frame. The driver for recycling will continue to be economic which, in turn, would result in the recovery of higher levels of quality fractions and, importantly, operators would be rewarded for doing so. This far more responsive system would result in positive changes recovering more material and therefore reducing the amount of material going into landfill. The alternative, if some MRF outputs can no longer be sent to landfill, are clear. After all, what is the operator likely to do with it? In all likelihood, the responsibility will be passed back to the local authority, and subsequently the collection agent, with the probable result of householders being told not to put some materials in the bins. This backward step is clearly not the way to go. Instead, we need to see greater consideration given to the commercial side of the recycling system to ensure continued successful operation with the maximum amount of resources being recovered and reprocessed. As the new MRF Code of Conduct sets out the need for higher quality waste to be coming into MRFs, there is a real need for greater adaptability allowing plants to change and put in place processes which will handle it efficiently and effectively. As part of this, thinking ahead and future-proofing the life of a MRF should be a no-brainer for the industry. Clearly, the more efficiently the MRF is able to extract high value recyclate, then the more income it will generate for the operator, the local authority and, ultimately, the more value for money will be provided to council tax payers. Stadler Engineering is a high-tech supplier of complete sorting and treatment plants for the waste management industry with offices in six countries. " In overcoming these challenges, a more forward-thinking approach is needed when new MRFs are commissioned " MAPPING THE MRF

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