A guide designed to help local authorities, waste management companies and charities understand the opportunities presented by reuse services at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) has been published by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

The ‘How to’ guide for reuse procurement, created by environmental consultancy Resource Futures on behalf of WRAP and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), seeks to highlight how implementing reuse services can help councils save money, improve their service and protect the environment all at once.

According to Emma Clarke, Reuse Specialist and Senior Consultant at Resource Futures, reuse activity at HWRCs is varied across the UK in terms of commitment and performance as cuts to the public sector impact on local authorities’ spending allocations.

However, by publishing the guide WRAP and Defra hope to address concerns about how reuse services can be procured ‘with minimised risk’ so that reuse ‘becomes the norm within every local authority’.

Range of services possible

Included in the guide are summaries of drivers and influencing factors for reuse, as well as analysis of challenges that local authorities may face in procuring services (e.g. budget risks and operational issues), and assessments of the potential benefits drawn from financial savings, performance improvements, social gain and environmental protection.

Clarke said: “Re-use is important for many reasons, this guide helps local authorities identify how they can include re-use whilst taking account of their local circumstances.”

Case studies are provided to show how councils are already using reuse facilities at HWRCs to generate an income and help their waste services become more circular. The guide states: ‘Reuse can take the form of on-site shops ranging in size and type, to containers for the storage of items for sale off site… Once the need has been identified (as seen with the strategic approach taken in Leicestershire), a range of options are available, such as leasing (as with the HWRC contract in Leeds), franchise models (as seen for re-use shops in Warwickshire), or service provision models (as seen in Neath Port Talbot).’

A key element of the waste hierarchy

The team at Resource Futures carried out research into procurement methods and approaches to provide a ‘shopping list’ of option scenarios and critical success factors to help local authorities develop their case for HWRC re-use. The guide concludes with information on incentives, monitoring and evaluation.

Clarke continued: “To deliver this project, we collected a wealth of data and undertook market research. This allowed us to build the procurement guide showcasing best practice examples and practical measures that local authorities can undertake to ensure successful procurement.

“It is not an easy process, as procurement never is, but with re-use as a key element of the waste hierarchy and its multiple financial, social and environmental contributions, the guide shows how it can become part of any council’s waste procurement and management strategy.”

Jude Andrews from WRAP commented: “WRAP and Defra were aware that local authority waste departments often struggled to persuade procurement colleagues that including re-use in new contracts was worthwhile.

“This project was commissioned to meet a need for local authorities following a consultation. Resource Futures have done a great job of working delivering this project and we hope that local authorities will find this useful.”

WRAP’s ‘How to’ guide for reuse procurement at HWRCs can be downloaded from the WRAP website.