Welcoming the latest initiative on the part of UK resource management minister Lord de Mauley to tackle mixed recyclate, Barry Turner, CEO of the UK’s Packaging & Films Association (PAFA, Nottingham; www.pafa.org.uk), welcomed the recognition that “it is not just the quantity of materials in the recycling stream that is important but equally critical is the quality of material, which, at best, so far has been variable.”

Turner made the statement after attending the launch of the new material recovery facility (MRF) code of practice and quality action plan, under which the government proposes to require all MRFs over a certain size to measure the quality of both input and output, providing the results to recyclers and those collecting the waste. The measure will apply to paper, card, metals, plastic and glass. The PAFA chief executive said the latest initiative constituted an encouraging sign that the UK government is now tackling these issues.

The issue of poor scrap quality was just raised by the German federal association for secondary feedstocks and removal bvse (Bonn / Germany; www.bvse.de) – see Plasteurope.com of 11.02.2013 – which called for an industry-wide restructuring to address the problem.