The MRF Code of Practice should be mandatory and properly enforced, CIWM has said.
Responding to Defra’s consultation on a MRF Code of Practice for England and Wales, CIWM has said that it is strongly in favour of the code being mandatory, and it wants to see the greatest possible degree of transparency while still protecting operators’ commercial confidentiality needs.
CIWM chief executive Steve Lee said: “We also want to see more robust sampling and analysis requirements, plus audit and enforcement frameworks put forward. In the case of sampling and analysis, we want consistently good MRF operation to be recognised through regulatory relief for the operator, including a reduced future sample frequency or a link to the regulator’s compliance assessment scheme.
“For audits, the very least we want to see is unannounced visits by the regulators, possibly linked to permit compliance inspectors. As for enforcement, it must be robust for the scheme to succeed. Ideally, CIWM would also like to see the quality of recyclates checked more at the MRF than at the dockside.
“While CIWM acknowledges that minimum output standards or quality thresholds may not be appropriate or workable, it is essential that the sampling, analysis and reporting regime is robust and representative to ensure that this code helps to deliver both improved quality and confidence.”
