LAWR

MAPPING THE MRF London calling: I live by the MRF Code In a move to promote higher quality recycling to reduce the use of virgin raw materials, Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Regulations were brought into force in England and Wales last year. What effect is this having on MRF operators? Liz Gyekye paid a visit to the Bywaters' MRF in London to find out. ailed as an example of cutting edge technology, the £7m Bywaters MRF in Bow, East London, claims to be London's largest MRF for dry recyclables, and can handle around 110,000 tonnes of waste every year. In fact, the site is permitted by the Environment Agency (EA) to handle up to 650,000 tonnes per year. When Mayor of London Boris Johnson helped to open the facility in June 2008, he said: "I have repeatedly used your plant as an example of the miracle work that can be done with recycling." The MRF handles a mixture of commercial (35%) and municipal (65%) waste. All the key recyclables are received at the plant (paper, card, plastics, cans, glass). Paper and card make up about 60% of the incoming materials, with paper accounting for about 45%. Bywaters reclaims around 90% of the recyclable materials processed through the MRF. Non- recyclable material is sent to an energy- from-waste plant. Hence, the Bywaters' facility is an ideal place to find out how the MRF Code of Practice (CoP) is impacting on MRF operators. The concept of the MRF CoP is that qualifying MRFs must carry out sampling of incoming commingled wastes and outgoing recyclate streams for quality analyses. The sampling regime that must be followed is set out in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014. The results of this sampling and 16 Local Authority Waste & Recycling April 2015 H analyses must be submitted to the EA on a quarterly basis. Bywaters says that it has already submitted its returns. 'Better operational control' What changes have Bywaters made to its MRF in response to implementing the CoP and what impact (if any) has this had on the organisations supplying the MRF with feedstock? "We have standardised the methods used in our monitoring procedure to conform to the CoP," says Bywaters environmental consultant Alan Kirk. "This has led to better operational control, which has led to improvements in the quality of recyclates – clearly a good thing. We have, however, been compelled to increase our charges to cover the extra staff we have had to take on and have passed on a flat rate charge to incorporate the additional costs." 18 ➧ paid a visit to the Bywaters' MRF in London to find out. analyses must be submitted to the EA used in our monitoring procedure to Bywaters is based in Bow, east London. Its MRF processes around 110,000t of waste every year.

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