A top Defra official has said that the MRF Code of Practice regulations will be launched this month and will need to be fully implemented by October.
Speaking at the Secondary Commodities Markets conference in London yesterday, Defra head of waste and regulation Richard Pullen said that there will be a transitional period once the regulations are launched this month to allow for implementation and this will end on 1 October 2014.
He added: “The Government believes the MRF regulations will help the resources industry get consistent quality of material.
“We are reasonably confident and hopeful will see the regulations issued this month. We will see from that robust sampling and transparency.
“There will be a transitional period for implementation that will last until 1 October 2014. These MRF regulations will be a first for the Government and will raise the bar on quality.”
He also said that some of the actions in the accompanying Quality Action Plan will need a longer term approach to promote UK demand for materials.
But he added that it was also quite legitimate to export recyclate as long as it doesn’t require further sorting at the end destination.
He also revealed that Defra was considering amendments to the PRN/PERN system to ensure a more level playing for domestic PRNs compared to export PERNs.
He was speaking at the conference as a replacement for Resources Minister Dan Rogerson who had to pull out due to the current flooding situation.
