WRAP has released the latest materials facilities (MF) data showing a rise in the amount of target material being received by materials facilities in Wales. The number of facilities reporting data across England and Wales, however, continues to remain lower than expected.
Under the amended Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, MF operators of mixed waste are required to sample and report on the quality of input and output material sorted at facilities. Introduced in October 2014, the introduction of new rules aimed to bring more transparency to the sorting and recycling of household waste.
Wrap says the Materials Facility Reporting Portal is available for waste suppliers (businesses and reprocessors) to inform feedback and enable discussions with their MF, and it can also provide local authorities with information on the quality of the material they are getting from their residents.
Published on WRAP’s MF Reporting Portal, the latest data is the eighth publication under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (Schedule 9A).
Covering the period between July and September 2016, the Q3 data shows that the total tonnage of mixed material entering the MFs in England was 852,397 tonnes. This is around 5 per cent less than the previous quarter and the lowest amount since Q3 2015. The MFs provided data based on a total of 8,232 samples totalling nearly 575 tonnes. At 87.1 per cent, the average percentage (by weight) of target material received by responding MFs shows little change to the previous quarter.
The total tonnage of mixed material entering the MFs in Wales in Q3 2016 was 78,199 tonnes, with an average percentage of target material received by responding MFs at 88.9 per cent, which is a 1.3 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
Under the regulations, MFs that receive 1,000 tonnes or more of mixed waste material for sorting in four consecutive reporting periods qualify for the reporting obligations. Wrap says that in Q3 2016, 89 English facilities reported data in England and 12 in Wales. Participation figures have seen little change and continue to remain far lower than the 160 that were expected to fall under the regulations.
In its commentary of the figures, Wrap says that the regulators are continuing their annual programme of announced and unannounced visits to MRF sites, which enable them to advise operators on the statutory sampling and reporting requirements and assess compliance.
