Josh Brooks / PackagingNews
Co-mingled review ‘could cost councils millions’, Biffa warns
A legal review of whether co-mingled household recycling collections should be considered as a separate collection of recyclables could cost councils millions, waste management firm Biffa has claimed.
The comments came in response to the Campaign for Real Recycling being granted a judicial review last week over Defra’s definition of co-mingled recyclables.
The case revolves around Defra’s transposition into English law of the EU’s revised Waste Framework Directive.
The Campaign for Real Recycling, which supports separation of materials at the kerbside rather than co-mingled collections, believes that Defra’s definition of co-mingled collections as a separate collection is wrong and damaging to the overall quality of recyclate.
A number of packaging and recycling companies are claimants in the judicial review. The claimants are: Ardagh Group, Smurfit Kappa UK, DS Smith Paper, Novelis UK, UK Recyclate, Palm Recycling and Plastics Sorting.
However, in a statement this week, Peter Dickson, development director of Biffa’s municipal division, said that any change to the definition of co-mingled collections could cost local authorities millions of pounds.
‘Higher rates’
“Co-mingling offers a number of operating efficiencies for local authorities, such as fewer vehicle movements, fewer collection rounds and containers, and a safer working environment for collection crews, as well as achieving higher recycling rates,” he said.
He argued that co-mingled collections produce “high-quality” recyclate and added: “What matters is not the collection system, but how you manage your processes to ensure you meet the quality specifications of your re-processor partners.
“We do not oppose kerbside-sort recycling. It is a viable and useful collection system… It’s just that kerbside-sort is not right for many local authorities, whereas co-mingling is.”
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