A big thank you to everybody who has engaged with the latest WRAP Gate Fees Survey.
We understand that local authorities are subject to many requests for information, but it is vital that we represent your current experiences concerning the cost of reprocessing and disposing of household waste and recycling.
WRAP recently published the latest Gate Fees Report, the 15th iteration of this study. The survey captures gate fees charged to Councils across the UK from material recovery facilities (MRF), in-vessel composting (IVC), anaerobic digestion (AD), energy from waste (EfW) and non-hazardous landfill facilities. In the latest version, a key objective was to understand better the factors that influenced the costs reported, in addition to recording the costs themselves.
We sought the views of unitary authorities, waste disposal authorities, waste collection authorities and joint waste authorities from across the UK. We also surveyed and interviewed commercial operators of reprocessing and disposal facilities to enhance our understanding.
The latest survey reveals a general decrease in the cost of reprocessing food waste at AD plants and increases in the cost of treatment/disposal at MRFs, IVC, EfW and landfill facilities. We do not have space here to detail all of the insights gleaned, but have included below just some of the highlights concerning MRFs:
- The net MRF gate fee (incorporating any income received by a Council for the sale of reprocessed material) varied considerably and is impacted by many factors including the type of materials collected and the quality of material delivered to the MRF;
- As collection services evolve, more Councils will be required to vary or tender new reprocessing contracts, and 75% of respondent MRF contracts expire by the end of 2024 (extensions may apply); and
- Quality is increasingly important to MRF operators (66% of Councils reported an applicable contamination limit of no more than 15%), many of whom are no longer willing to absorb all of the risk concerning the sale of reprocessed material (56% of respondent MRF contracts incorporate such a risk share mechanism).
The next Gate Fees Survey is almost upon us, and your involvement is again crucial to help capture the cost of reprocessing and disposal in the UK, and highlight emerging issues, whilst also ensuring that the data that supports WRAP’s modelling and evidence base remains robust. The benefits for Councils are many: at a recent Gate Fees Survey webinar hosted by WRAP, respondents stated that they currently, or would in the future, use the information in the report to support benchmarking, contract negotiations and procurement, service modelling and options appraisals, and briefings for senior management and elected members.
Thank you for the feedback received so far, which is enabling us to improve the survey further. Please continue to share your views with us via LA.Support@wrap.org.uk
