Material Recovery Facility: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:41, 26 October 2021

A Material Recovery Facility is often referred to as a ‘MRF’ and is generically a facility that sorts, grades and prepares waste fractions suitable for onward dispatch to a Reprocessor.

Overview

A Material Recovery Facility is often referred to as a ‘MRF’ and is generically a facility that sorts, grades and prepares waste fractions suitable for onward dispatch to a Reprocessor. Many also refer to a MRF as a Material Recycling Facility, which is not strictly true in that the MRF separates the material for onward recycling rather than recycling the material in its own right.

Types of MRF

There are essentially three broad types of MRF:

"Clean" MRFs that accept materials from source separation schemes and Dry Mixed Recyclables (DMR).
"Dirty" MRFs/Waste to Fuel MRF which extract recyclables from mixed MSW and Commercial Waste streams and are generally more focused on producing a Waste Derived Fuel (WDF).
Material specific MRFs for example:
- Construction and Demolition Waste and skip wastes
- Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
- Plastic materials and purpose designed PRFs (Plastics Recovery Facility or Plastics Recycling Facility)

"Clean" MRFs

"Clean" MRFs that accept materials from source separation schemes and Dry Mixed Recyclables (DMR). A pictorial overview of one type layout/configuration is shown below^[1]:

	1. Material Feed - often delivered via a Bag Breaker
	2a.Trommel/Trommel Screen - normally used to separate off the larger, lighter mixed paper and cardboard fractions from the other materials
	2b.Ballistic Separator - normally used to separate 2-dimensional light and flat items (such as paper and cardboard) from 3-dimensional heavier rigid items such as glass bottles and cans
	3a.Magnetic Separator - used to separate steel cans/ferrous metals
	3b.Air Separator/Air Classifier - used to separate heavy from light materials, in this case to remove contamination from the glass fraction
	4.Eddy Current Separator - used to separate aluminium cans/non-ferrous metals
	5.NIR Optical Sorting - Near Infra Red (NIR) light is used to separate materials, often focused on different plastic types/polymers

The MRF Code of Practice applies to all 'Qualifying MRFs' which are those all those MRFs that receive more than 1,000 tonnes per annum of primarily DMR materials from households and other sources with a similar composition. A list of these MRFs and associated map is set out below which are, on the whole, "Clean" MRFs.

map and site listing to follow

"Dirty MRFs"

content to follow

Material Specific MRFs

Construction and Demolition Waste and Skip Wastes

content to follow

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

content to follow

Plastic Materials and Purpose Designed PRFs

content to follow

References

↑ Suez Recycling and Recovery UK

[1] Suez Recycling and Recovery UK

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Category:Technologies & Solutions]]
-A [[Material Recovery Facility]] is often referred to as a ‘[[MRF]]’ and is generically a facility that sorts, grades and prepares waste fractions suitable for onward dispatch to [[Reprocessors]]. Many also refer to a MRF as a Material Recycling Facility, which is not strictly true in that the MRF separates the material for onward recycling rather than recycling the material in its own right.
+A [[Material Recovery Facility]] is often referred to as a ‘[[MRF]]’ and is generically a facility that sorts, grades and prepares waste fractions suitable for onward dispatch to a [[Reprocessor]].
+==Overview==
+A [[Material Recovery Facility]] is often referred to as a ‘[[MRF]]’ and is generically a facility that sorts, grades and prepares waste fractions suitable for onward dispatch to a [[Reprocessor]]. Many also refer to a MRF as a Material Recycling Facility, which is not strictly true in that the MRF separates the material for onward recycling rather than recycling the material in its own right.
+==Types of MRF==
 There are essentially three broad types of MRF:
-*'''"Clean" MRFs''' that accept materials from source separation schemes and [[Dry Mixed Recyclables]] ([[DMR]]). A pictorial overview of their layout is shown below<ref>Suez Recycling and Recovery UK</ref>:
+*'''"Clean" MRFs''' that accept materials from source separation schemes and [[Dry Mixed Recyclables]] ([[DMR]]).
-[[File:Suez MRF drawing.png|MRF Diagram|link=[[Suez]]]]
 *'''"Dirty" MRFs'''/'''Waste to Fuel MRF''' which extract recyclables from mixed [[MSW]] and [[Commercial Waste]] streams and are generally more focused on producing a [[Waste Derived Fuel]] ([[WDF]]).
 *'''Material specific MRFs''' for example:
@@ Line 11: / Line 13: @@
 **[[Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment]]
 **[[Plastic]] materials and purpose designed '''[[PRF]]s''' ([[Plastics Recovery Facility]] or [[Plastics Recovery Facility | Plastics Recycling Facility]])
+=="Clean" MRFs==
+'''"Clean" MRFs''' that accept materials from source separation schemes and [[Dry Mixed Recyclables]] ([[DMR]]). A pictorial overview of one type layout/configuration is shown below<ref>Suez Recycling and Recovery UK</ref>:
+{|
+|-
+|rowspan=7|[[File:Suez MRF drawing.png|MRF Diagram|link=[[Suez]]]]||1. Material Feed - often delivered via a [[Bag Breaker]]
+|-
+|2a.[[Trommel]]/Trommel Screen - normally used to separate off the larger, lighter mixed [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]] fractions from the other materials
+|-
+|2b.[[Ballistic Separator]] - normally used to separate 2-dimensional light and flat items (such as [[Paper & Card|paper and cardboard]]) from 3-dimensional heavier rigid items such as [[glass]] bottles and cans
+|-
+|3a.[[Magnetic Separator]] - used to separate [[steel cans]]/[[Ferrous Metal|ferrous metals]]
+|-
+|3b.[[Air Separator]]/Air Classifier - used to separate heavy from light materials, in this case to remove contamination from the [[glass]] fraction
+|-
+|4.[[Eddy Current Separator]] - used to separate [[aluminium cans]]/[[Non-Ferrous Metal|non-ferrous metals]]
+|-
+|5.[[NIR Optical Sorting]] - Near Infra Red (NIR) light  is used to separate materials, often focused on different [[plastic]] types/polymers
+|}
+The [[MRF Code of Practice]] applies to all 'Qualifying MRFs' which are those all those MRFs that receive more than 1,000 tonnes per annum of primarily [[DMR]] materials from households and other sources with a similar composition. A list of these MRFs and associated map is set out below which are, on the whole, '''"Clean" MRFs'''.
+'''''map and site listing to follow'''''
+=="Dirty MRFs"==
+'''''content to follow'''''
+==Material Specific MRFs==
+===[[Construction and Demolition Waste]] and Skip Wastes===
+'''''content to follow'''''
+===[[Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment]]===
+'''''content to follow'''''
+===[[Plastic]] Materials and Purpose Designed '''[[PRF]]s'''===
+'''''content to follow'''''
 ==References==
 <references />