NFRC are urging members to act now to prevent the risk of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste wood which could be recycled from being lost.

It is a legal requirement under Regulatory Position Statement 291 (RPS291) for waste producers to test at least one of these items per quarter and to share their results with the Wood Recycling Association (WRA). Only by sharing results and receiving a WRA Submission Report, can they achieve compliance.

However, despite a huge communications campaign to raise awareness of the need to test, the WRA has not received nearly enough test results to build the evidence base it needs.

RPS 291, allows, in the short term, for potentially hazardous ‘amber’ waste wood items removed from domestic premises, demolition sites or other buildings to be stored and processed as non-hazardous provided the material is tested at least quarterly,  the results are shared with the WRA and it is destined for either Chapter IV Compliant Biomass or panel board manufacture.

WRA have, at last, started to see the volumes of samples increase, but they are still particularly short of results for Barge boards/Fascias/Soffits, Roofing Timbers and Tiling/Cladding Battens so NFRC members need ensure that their clients understand their responsibilities for testing under RPS291, and to send in more samples of these for testing outlined in the WRA Demolition Quick Guide Sample Collection Form until RPS291 ends.