Issues facing MRFs regarding material output quality Mike Jefferson Commercial Director, Valpak

Valpak – background  Established in 1997 as a Producer Compliance Scheme for Packaging Waste  Expanded Producer Compliance activities to include WEEE and batteries (pre-compliance). Currently around 4000 members  Operational Recycling Subsidiary (Valpak Recycling) established in 2003 and now handling around 400kt of recyclables each year. Customers include UK businesses, Local Authorities and Waste Management Companies  MRF in Preston (Valpak Recycling North West)

Valpak’s MRF  Handles 75tpa of commercial and domestic recyclables  Automatic sortation equipment to process the ‘light packaging fraction’ (plastic bottles, plastic trays, steel and aluminium cans)  Manual sortation line for grading commercial streams  Main outgoing products, Plastic: PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS; Metals: steel cans, aluminium cans; Paper: cardboard

Quality management on site at the MRF  On site Quality Manager and Material Inspector on each shift  All incoming loads booked in by grade as well as material type  All incoming loads quality tested with sortation grades sampled and analysed  All outgoing processed material sampled and analysed  Regular inspection of key stages in the sort process  All outgoing loads inspected and signed off by a qualified member of staff prior to leaving the site

Quality management off-site  Team of three staff working with third party processing partners and suppliers  Viewing container / vehicle loadings and inspecting material ready for shipment  Inspection reports completed and photographs taken. All logged at head office  All loads exported outside of Europe are photographed and signed off by suitably qualified staff at head office

Why is quality management important?  Quality is important in any product!  It is being purchased against a specification  Legal compliance (note: destination country’s and UK’s)  Financial reward  Consistency of demand – in good markets and bad  Reputation – low quality material often supplied to poor quality factories

What can MRFs do?  Manage quality throughout the process  Train staff and develop a quality culture (and reward good performance)  Monitor and maintain key steps in sortation process throughout the shift  Collect and evaluate important data:  Quality – in / out / residue  Input quality vs. production throughput  Production throughput vs. output quality  Work with the suppliers  Understand the reprocessing process

The cost to MRFs of poor quality outgoing material  Reduced revenue for material (ongoing if consistency in quality an issue)  Low / no demand when market conditions are poor  Risk of prosecution and costs (direct and indirect)  Cost of rework  Cost of returning goods  Cost of processing claims

Source separated and commingled collections  Not just two options but many in between  Balance between (1) cost of collection (2) cost of processing at MRF (3) value derived from material  Our experience: sorting of the light packaging fraction works  More challenging from a processing perspective to add paper and glass  Quality: doesn’t matter how you get there…but you have to get there

What can Local Authorities do?  Educate and promote best practise  Look at ways of rewarding good practise and dealing with those who contaminate material on collection rounds  Look at potential quality issues when designing collection schemes – volume vs. quality / potential demand  Request quality data from the MRF to inform decisions and monitor progress  Link price / gate fees to quality in contracts?

Why is quality becoming increasingly important?  Increasingly demanding end market applications  Availability of material in a global market  Increasingly tight legislation in Europe and elsewhere  As the market matures quality gives a competitive advantage

Summary  Consideration needs to be given to quality during the early stages of the planning process  Each link in the supply chain needs to understand the operations and requirements of the others  Good quality material is linked to sustainability  Quality management makes financial sense  Quality is likely to continue to become increasingly important