News

The Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR) has developed a ranking of the most sustainable and cost-effective ways of recovering packaging waste.

The CRR's "recycling collection hierarchy" has been created after the group's members were asked to give their objective views as to what are the most environmentally-friendly means of maintaining the quality of recovered materials.

At the top of the hierarchy, the best and most energy-efficient method for maintaining the integrity of materials, was kerbside collection.

Conversely, the least sustainable and cost-effective means of waste recovery was the approach dubbed the "survival bag", the system where a mix of recyclable materials are placed in a single bag.

Eric Randall, CRR member and director of Bryson Recycling, said: "There are many variations in between these two extremes and different materials behave in different ways to contamination and compaction.

"A twin-stream system, collecting paper and card separately from all other materials, if done carefully, for example, can often produce good quality materials suitable for UK re-processors. The same system managed poorly, treating the materials as waste, on the other hand, will produce poor quality materials of little value," he added.

Triple-stream collection came second place in the hierarchy.

However, co-mingled waste (without glass) scored less well because of issues of cross-contamination between materials, which can lead to serious issues with reprocessing.

Mal Williams, chair of the CRR, said: "The hierarchy provides local authorities with a clear indication of what the UK reprocessing industry is asking for. The fact that kerbside sorting produces the best quality materials is not new.

"Clear guidance of what materials cause contamination problems when mingled is new. I urge all recycling managers and senior budget holders to take the hierarchy as their starting point when reviewing their collection systems," he said.