End-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear: An assessment of the potential recycling capacity in Scotland

Appendix C: Reprocessor interview questions

Table 16: Reprocessor interview questions

Topic

All waste (tonnes per annum)

Question:

• How many tonnes of waste are accepted at the site annually?
• How many tonnes of waste outputs do you have annually?
• How many extra tonnes of waste can you process with existing equipment?
• What is your maximum waste capacity on your license permit?
• What types of what does your sites accept? (Household, commercial, industrial, special, special asbestos, inert)
• How many tonnes of PE/HDPE, PP and Nylon are produced at the site annually?
• How many more tonnes of PE/HDPE, PP and Nylon could be produced at the site annually?
• What type of output is produced at the site for each accepted material (E.g. pellets, flakes)?
• What grade are the outputs (e.g. food, colour)?
• Which markets purchase/use the outputs?
• What is the value of each output?

Reprocessing of commercial fishing gear

Question:

• How many tonnes of waste fishing gear are accepted at the site per annum?
• Who sent the fishing gear for processing at the site (e.g. certain company, port, or region)?
• What types of fishing gear are accepted at the sites?
• Which materials/polymers from the fishing gear are targeted and recycling?
• Which materials are not targeted for recycling at the site?
• Which markets purchase outputs derived from fishing gear?
• What is the market value of the outputs derived from fishing gear?

Reprocessing of commercial aquaculture gear

Question:

• How many tonnes of waste aquaculture gear are accepted at the site per annum?
• Who sent the aquaculture gear for processing at the site (e.g. certain company, port, or region)?
• What types of aquaculture gear are accepted at the sites?
• Which materials/polymers from the aquaculture gear are targeted and recycling?
• Which materials are not targeted for recycling at the site?
• Which markets purchase outputs derived from aquaculture gear?
• What is the market value of the outputs derived from aquaculture gear?
• How many tonnes of waste aquaculture gear are accepted at the site per annum?

Future expansion

Question:

• Do you have any planned expansion? If yes, what is the planned expansion capacity?
• When is the estimated opening year for the planned expansion?
• Is this an expansion to an existing site or a new site development?
• What planning stage is the expansion in? (E.g. not yet submitted, submitted, accepted, under construction)
• Is it the same waste types and treatment processes as discussed? If no, how does it differ?
• Are there any factors that might prevent or support expansion?

Future of the current site

Question:

• Up to what year are the facility operations and throughput fairly certain?
• What is impacting the future of the current site? (E.g. lifespan of the facility/equipment, license renewal date)

Qualitative questions on EOL fishing and aquaculture gear

Question:

• Are there any additional details on the facility – such as waste accepted, processing or limitations – that have not been covered?
• In your opinion, do you have a good understanding of commercial EOL fishing and aquaculture gear (e.g. size, materials, complexity, cleanliness)? If yes, how did you develop this understanding?
• What would the waste need to look like when arriving at the facility gate before you would accept it at your site? (I.e. is there pre-processing requirements)
• What are the challenges/barriers to processing commercial fishing and aquaculture gear waste at the facility?
• What would incentivise or enable you to process commercial fishing and aquaculture gear waste at the facility?
• Which facilities do you know of that reprocess fishing or aquaculture gear?
• Could the facility process commercial fishing and aquaculture gear waste, or could it process more if it does already?