The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on its Recyclate Quality Action Plan, which seeks to increase the quality of recyclate from Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in Scotland.

The consultation invites those in the recycling industry to comment on a range of actions that could improve and maintain the quality of recyclable materials collected, sorted and presented on the Scottish market. A similar consultation for recyclate quality in England is expected by the end of the month.

Central to the proposals for the Recyclate Quality Acton Plan is a new Code of Practice for all MRFs in Scotland, which aims to ensure an improvement in the quality of recycled material they produce.

According to the consultation literature, a study of eight Scottish MRFs undertaken this year found contamination of co-mingled collections to be in the region of 10.5 per cent – but in some cases significantly higher – and estimates that less than 30 per cent of MRF operators have ‘robust quality monitoring processes in place’.

The new Code of Practice would require all Scottish MRFs that sort mixed dry recyclate (above a minimum throughput) to measure the composition of inputs and outputs at a minimum frequency, by 2014. MRF operators would then be required to submit their information to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on a quarterly basis. This information could be published electronically for public access, in the hope of improving transparency and market efficiency by providing ‘missing information’ to suppliers and buyers of recycled material.

An impact assessment accompanying the consultation estimates that the cost of acquiring and disseminating such information would cost £260,000 for all Scottish MRFs, implying a ‘one-off’ cost of approximately £12,000 per MRF. However, these figures would rise to £280,000 and £12,800, respectively, should a proposed voluntary grading system also be implemented.

The Action Plan proposes a total of 14 ‘key actions’ which not only intend to drive up the quality of recycled material and improve industry transparency, but also ensure compliance with the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Proposed actions include:

• Commissioning consumer research and message testing to understand how the concept of high quality recycling can be used to positively influence consumer recycling behaviour
• Providing support to those that have been ‘underserved by mainstream communications’, have English as a second or other language or have literacy issues
• Establishing statutory sampling arrangements for MRF inputs and outputs
• Developing a standard electronic submission template
• Giving the public access to SEPA by publishing all reported data online
• Assisting MRF operators with the design and implementation of systems that would establish quality measurement and control systems for measuring the quality of input and output materials at MRFs.
• Developing a suite of actions to enable MRF operators to achieve the highest standard of materials separation, ensure materials meet the needs of reprocessors in the UK and can ‘consistently access high value closed loop markets’ whenever possible.
• Undertaking a UK-wide study of waste transfer/bulking stations to determine the typical quality of each of the key recyclate streams.
• Providing a voluntary system for grading the quality of recyclate for each of the main material streams (paper, card, plastic, glass and metal).
• Putting in place a ‘Market Development Capital Grant Programme for Priority Resource Streams in Scotland’ to allow materials to be recycled into closed loop or ‘added-value end uses’ in Scotland.

The consultation will remain open until 28 December 2012.

View the Recyclate Quality Action Plan consultation web page online.