Waste treatment and recycling
WRc provide a wide range of services to waste managers, recyclers and thermal treatment facilities, with decades of experience in sectors such as energy from waste and metals recycling
Our services focus on helping you meet your regulatory obligations such as providing expert waste classification and characterisation and assisting with meeting emissions limits. We also support the industry though process development and optimisation, making the most of our expertise and experience to implement robust solutions.
We have in-house specialist laboratories with UKAS accreditation for some sample preparation and analysis, with a wide network of expert third party laboratories for quantitative analysis of challenging wastes.
WRc is seen as a trusted, independent advisor, producing robust evidence that has credibility with the regulator. We work to safeguard your reputation, ensuring advice and conclusions are backed be science and evidence.
Challenges faced by the industry
WRc works for manufacturers, waste producers and trade bodies across multiple industrial sectors, using bespoke approaches and novel test methods that position us between routine laboratories and universities. As an independent trusted advisor to industry, our verified solutions have credibility with the regulators.
All waste producers must classify their waste. WRc are experts in this, offering routine classification services for IBA and IBAA and bespoke studies on complex mixed waste streams.
Meeting under appropriate measures and best available techniques (BAT). Compliance is key to a sustainable operation but can be very complicated to navigate.
Increasing yield, maximising output value and reducing operational expenditure and downtime are critical to succeed in the waste industry. Developing new processes and optimising existing plant is a great way to do this.
Chemical regulation is constantly evolving and understanding how this could impact your business is important. Knowing if you waste contains POPs or hazardous substances, and then what to do about it will keep you fully compliant.
We help organisations prioritise investment, improve resilience and manage risk
- Evidence of robust sampling and testing using WM3 methodology to help ensure results are accepted by the regulator and providing confidence in continued non-hazardous classification of treatment residues
- Sampling and analysis of complex, heterogenous waste streams, using in house facilities to prepare samples and a network of expert third party laboratories for wate analysis
- Improving treatment technologies or applications to limit the quantity and/or improve the quality of residues from treated post-consumer wastes
- Optimising products and processes to increase recycling rates and recover valuable secondary raw materials
- Implementing new processes to recover more value from waste
- Evidencing end of waste criteria based on product characteristics and performance
Projects at a glance
- We support over 80 sites with routine waste monitoring, processing over 1,700 samples each year
- We are experts in waste sampling, having delivered national characterisation programmes for waste such as metal shredder residue, electronic waste and construction and demolition waste
- Decades of experience in a range of wastes such as IBA, end of life vehicles, shredder residue, WEEE, plastics and packaging
- We work closely with a variety of trade associations, including the Environmental Services Association (ESA), British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) and the Industry Council for Electronics Recycling (ICER).
- We have carried out numerous studies on behalf of public organisations and the government including the Environment Agency, DEFRA and the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Experience from these projects helps understand the nuances in regulation and the requirements for compliance.