Work on an ‘RDF Code of Practice’ to ensure that suppliers of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) meet the quality requirements of offtakers is underway, Eunomia managing director Mike Brown announced yesterday (24 November).
The work is being led by the RDF Industry Group – an association of UK waste operators and exporters founded in 2015 which includes Eunomia – alongside firms such as Biffa, Veolia and FCC Environment.
Mike Brown, managing director of Eunomia, speaking at the RDF Conference 2016
The Group also features offtakers of the material, such as Dutch incineration firm AEB Amsterdam and Swedish fuel buyer EFO AB.
Mr Brown unveiled the Code of Practice while speaking at the first session of letsrecycle.com’s RDF Conference 2016, which brought together delegates from across the sector.
He was joined on the panel by letsrecycle.com editor Steve Eminton, who chaired the session, Pandora Rene, senior advisor at the Environment Agency, and Anthesis associate director Claudia Amos, who spoke about the future of Circular Economy proposals and the potential outcomes of the referendum.
Discussions
Commenting on the work of the Group, Mr Brown stated that it had been in consultation with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the Food Standards Agency and the Environment Agency about the need for a code of practice in a “relatively young sector”.
He added: “This is about ensuring suppliers meet offtakers needs and quality requirements, not just the minimum requirements but some good practice lessons covering the whole supply chain.”
(l-r): Mike Brown, Claudia Amos of Anthesis and the Environment Agency’s Pandora Rene
The ‘Code of Practice’ will be separate to the Environment Agency’s official RDF definition, which was unveiled last year. While brief, the definition suggests the material should comply with “end-user technical specifications relating to calorific value, moisture content, form and quantity”.
Brexit
Mr Brown also addressed how the UK’s decision to leave the EU could affect the future of RDF exports, particularly in the event of a ‘hard’ Brexit in which Britain leaves the single market.
He said that it was unlikely that rules surrounding export of waste to the continent would change as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the EU – as this falls under the remit of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
However, while there would be no automatic bar on exports from the UK if it left the single market, the country would still have to abide by the World Trade Organisation to impose tariffs on the export of material.
He warned that in such a scenario, the UK could theoretically return to its reliance on landfill in the absence of domestic energy recovery capacity, which would be problematic as sites continue to close down. “Landfill will be the place we look if there’s a squeeze on exports,” he said. “Let’s not hope there’s a big shock to the system when we only have 50 landfills left and they are 200 miles apart.”
Circular Economy
Other implications raised by the UK leaving the EU could be a decision by the government to ignore Circular Economy proposals set out by the European Commission – instead opting for a lower recycling target than 65% by 2030. The impact of such a scenario would likely see the residual waste volumes climb.
Some of that waste might have to go to landfill in the short term. That might happen
Pandora Rene, senior advisor
Environment Agency
Also speaking at the conference, the Environment Agency’s Pandora Rene was asked about the potential impact that a ‘hard’ Brexit could have on exports of RDF to Europe.
She added: “There would be an issue with capacity. We would have to think about where the capacity was to uptake that material but it might force the hand of the home-grown industry. There is an excess of capacity in some parts of the UK but some of that waste might have to go to landfill in the short term. That might happen.”
Ms Rene went on to discuss some of the work the Environment Agency was doing to tackle waste crime in the RDF sector and within the wider waste industry – suggesting there had been a “tenfold” increase in container inspections since 2012/13.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
