The Regulations governing Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in England require that they report on the quality of both the incoming mixed wastes and the single-stream recyclate products, with the results being made available on a public register. In this investigation, tests were conducted on a number of mixed wastes from different suppliers being processed at a qualifying MRF to evaluate how effective the Regulations (or MRF Code of Practice (MRF CoP)) were in generating useful, meaningful information. The empirical evidence obtained showed that MRF CoP in its current form has a number of serious flaws which detract from the validity and value of the reported operational data. The statutory definition of ‘material particles’ in the mixed wastes given in the MRF CoP means that compliance with the MRF CoP is impracticable, and in order to overcome this it will be necessary to re-word the definition of ‘material particles’. Empirical evidence also invalidated the explicit assumption made in the MRF CoP that the composition of the material particles is identical to that of the bulk materials, and consequently the basis for the mandatory apportioning of the weight of the material particles has no logical foundation and apportioning leads to distortion in the reported data. Changes will be required to the present statutory requirements for reporting operational results if the recorded information is to have meaning and relevance for stakeholders in the system.

英格兰的材料回收设施 (MRF) 法规要求它们报告进入的混合废物和单流回收产品的质量，并在公共登记册上公布结果。在这项调查中，对来自不同供应商的多种混合废物进行了测试，这些废物在合格的 MRF 进行处理，以评估法规（或 MRF 实践守则 (MRF CoP)）在生成有用、有意义的信息方面的有效性。获得的经验证据表明，当前形式的 MRF CoP 存在许多严重缺陷，这些缺陷降低了报告的运行数据的有效性和价值。MRF CoP 中给出的混合废物中“材料颗粒”的法定定义意味着遵守 MRF CoP 是不切实际的，为了克服这个问题，有必要重新定义“物质粒子”的定义。经验证据也推翻了 MRF CoP 中明确的假设，即材料颗粒的成分与散装材料的成分相同，因此强制分配材料颗粒重量的依据没有逻辑基础，分配导致报告数据的失真。如果记录的信息对系统中的利益相关者具有意义和相关性，则需要对报告运营结果的现行法定要求进行更改。经验证据也推翻了 MRF CoP 中明确的假设，即材料颗粒的成分与散装材料的成分相同，因此强制分配材料颗粒重量的依据没有逻辑基础，分配导致报告数据的失真。如果记录的信息对系统中的利益相关者具有意义和相关性，则需要对报告运营结果的现行法定要求进行更改。经验证据也推翻了 MRF CoP 中明确的假设，即材料颗粒的成分与散装材料的成分相同，因此强制分配材料颗粒重量的依据没有逻辑基础，分配导致报告数据的失真。如果记录的信息对系统中的利益相关者具有意义和相关性，则需要对报告运营结果的现行法定要求进行更改。