Resources

These appendices provide supporting information to the Household food waste collections guide.

Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) have a key role to play in the creation of high-quality/high-value recyclate streams that can be used as feedstock materials by a range of industries. The implementation of effective Quality Management Systems (QMS) can support this through consistency of approach, risk management and commercial differentiation.

WRAP works with local authorities across England, supporting them to deliver interventions that have been proven to increase the yield of food waste collected for recycling from separate weekly collections.

WRAP has been working with authorities on food waste collections since 2013, and we’ve found that the most successful way of increasing and sustaining the performance of food waste collection services is to introduce a package of interventions. These include use of a “no food waste” residual bin sticker, a free supply of caddy liners, and an information leaflet for residents. 

Re-use occurs when items are used again for their original purpose. It can involve checking, cleaning and repairing items before they are passed on to a new owner. Local authorities can develop services to facilitate re-use or support existing re-use organisations and community groups to deliver their own activities.

WRAP carried out research in 2012/13 to test communications aimed at:

• building awareness of the negative aspects of food waste; and,
• influencing behaviours to prevent food waste and increase the use of local authority food collection services.

This section of the Household Waste Prevention Hub provides a summary overview of the research report’s recommendations.

This section provides links to WRAP’s communications guidance. It provides both general and specific waste prevention communications guidance as well as case studies and pilots on successful communications activities.

Communicating re-use is essential to increase donations of items for re-use and increase demand for donated items. WRAP provides a number of materials to support local authorities with their communications campaigns.

Effective communications will be tailored to suit different stakeholder groups and their different behaviours and motivations. Local authorities should work with local partners to push out communications and use national brands to build awareness on key waste prevention issues.

Understanding the motivations and behaviours of different stakeholders is essential to targeting the right messages to the right audiences.

As a local authority you may not be best placed to deliver messages to all audiences so it is important to look for partners who residents engage with.

Planning and estimating potential diversion

This section describes two basic steps that should be completed by a local authority in the initial stages of planning a waste prevention programme. It is important to understand the nature of the waste collected before an estimation of the impact of specific waste prevention activities is made.

Making the case for waste prevention requires an understanding of the possible types of waste prevention activities that could be adopted and an indication of what these could achieve if they were implemented.    

In 2020 WRAP carried out an options appraisal on behalf of a medium sized Waste Collection Authority in the midlands to compare the cost and performance of a range of collection scenarios in preparation for necessary changes to its household waste collection service.