The group expressed that the legislation may provide potential relief for council’s whose budgets were being stretched.
The IMG was established to represent the views of the larger (75,000 tonnes plus per annum) independently operated material recovery facilities (MRF). These facilities are responsible for processing nearly 25% of the material from commingled household collections services provided by their customer councils in England and Northern Ireland annually.
The group includes MRFs like Beauparc, Casepak, N+P, Re-Gen and Sherbourne Recycling.
John Coates from Re-Gen, chair of the group, said: “As independent operators of significant infrastructure, who run mainly merchant facilities, we must be at the forefront of sorting technology best practice to be able to offer our customers the best solution at a price they can afford.
“Our members have invested in the latest sorting technology, AI and robotics to deliver on our customer expectations and maximise the volume of recycling that we can supply into the market. With such significant volumes being processed through our facilities we are experts in logistics within the UK and exporting further afield, to find the best value for money to keep our customers happy.”
“Commingled collections have consistently the greater proportion of top performing councils for recycling in England and Northern Ireland, where government subsidies have been low to non-existent.
“We have worked with our customer councils to offer them modern facilities that we invest in to be able to meet their specifications as they struggled with austerity in the past and future budget challenges. By using less complicated vehicles with fewer crew members our customers are less likely to experience disruption and experience the impact of staff shortages. We recognise that we are key to them providing a resilient and reliable service to their residents.”
To learn more about MRFs, make sure you attend the MRF Conference on 7 November in Birmingham. See the growing agenda and book your tickets here.
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