LAWR

Maximising recycling quality When Casepak's materials recovery facility (MRF) opened in 2011, it was one of the most state-of-the-art- facilities in the UK. But standing still has not been an option. Liz Gyekye visited the firm to find out what steps it had been taking to meet the requirements of the MRF Code of Practice (CoP). he new material recov- ery facility Regulations aim to improve qual- ity of recyclates and over the past few years Casepak has invested in new systems and solutions to raise the level of qual- ity outputs at its 150,000-tonne-capaci- ty MRF. The Leicester-based company has been adhering to the requirements of the new regulations since its begin- nings. For example, it has already intro- duced a grading and reporting system to identify and highlight the input of non-target materials at its £21m MRF. The statistical grading results provide a basis for work with local authori- ties to develop communication, edu- cation and collection improvements to improve output quality. Speaking about how the grading system works, Casepak operations maintenance man- ager Lee Bradbury says that an operator checks all of the materials accepted into the MRF's bays for contamination and "non-conforming" items. He explains: "We are talking black bags, textiles, woods and bikes. Once he counts it, he ticks a box on a sheet and we get a clear picture of the materials coming into the MRF." Flexible MRF As well as a grading and reporting sys- tem, Casepak also implements a batch processing procedure for the materi- als it receives from different councils. Each council is allocated a different bay according to the quality of material it collects – the MRF has a huge space to do this. Rural councils tend to have high qual- ity materials, according to Bradbury, so they have their own bay in the MRF. He says that these areas tend to have a demographic, which includes a lot of retirees, who have the time to recycle more and place the "correct" items in the recycling bin. On the other hand, inner city councils tend to have contaminated recyclables and "huge amounts of film like LDPE which can- not be processed". Bradbury likens receiving some mate- rials from the inner city like "putting diesel in a Formula One car". Whereas, receiving materials from some rural areas is like obtaining "quality unlead- ed petrol". The MRF's set up changes according to which batch it receives. Bradbury says: "If materials come from a rural area where people tend to adhere to its recycling system, the MRF will adapt to take in that material. Material from there tends to go through the MRF very quickly. "The MRF design speed is 26 tonnes of materials per hour but we can push 28-30 tonnes an hour through it with the materials we get from the rural area. There are less people (10 people instead of 25) and the set up is different (differ- ent sets on screens and bypass systems). Yet, material received from some inner cities is a different kettle of fish. So, the amount of throughput goes up and people goes up. "If we were to mix all the materials together from the different councils then we get average throughputs but because we have the batch process it allows us to get as much as we can out of it. So, recycling rates are higher because of our batch processing sys- tem." Sampling One of the key recommendations in the Code of Practice (CoP) is sampling. It states that the results from sampling and composition tests (on input and output material) should be made read- ily available to reprocessors looking to purchase the material. Defra says that this will help to attract higher and more stable prices. Bradbury says Casepak is ready for the sampling requirements stipulated 22 Local Authority Waste & Recycling October 2014 T MAPPING THE MRF " Receiving materials from some inner city areas is like putting diesel in a F1 car " Casepak processes mixed papers, plastics, PET, steel cans and glass at its Leicester- based MRF

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