Approaches to material sales: A guide for local authorities

Developing a sales strategy to maximise income from the materials you collect can be a tricky balance. While some factors which influence this, such as fluctuating market conditions, lie outside of an authority’s control, there are also opportunities which can be taken advantage of. Getting the strategy right for your area will benefit the income you achieve.

Helping local authority officers to spot those opportunities and set a bespoke materials sales strategy is the purpose of a new range of tools WRAP has developed to help local authorities maximise the benefit that they obtain for the dry recyclables collected as part of their provision of waste services. The updated ‘Approaches to material sales: A guide for local authorities’ is designed to equip local authority officers with the knowledge required to select the right strategy for their unique circumstances.

It explores key commercial considerations such as the pricing mechanism to be used, material quality, and operational requirements for the sale of separate materials from kerbside collections, household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) and bring sites and mixes of materials from comingled collections.

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The guide will help local authorities consider the options available to them when it comes to the sale of recyclables and choose a solution that works for them in relation to the mix of materials they are collecting and the perceived quality of that mix, the resources, and skills available to secure outlets for the materials, and the level of risk the local authority is prepared to take.

Several influencing factors are out of an authority’s control, including the market conditions at the time the authority is selling its materials as well as what has happened to the commodity risk profile in recent times. However, there are also several factors which will influence the value obtained and which are within the local authority’s control. These factors include:

• determining the level of risk an authority is prepared to take,
• selecting the most suitable price setting mechanism,
• understanding whether the contract is simply for the sale of materials or if there is a services element,
• the quality of available material,
• the best marketing strategy for each material individually,
• the design of operational arrangements, and
• deciding whether to market the materials as an individual local authority, via a waste management contractor, in a consortium or through a broker.

WRAP’s updated report is supported by a new practical guide which will support authorities through a step-by-step process, whether they sell thousands of tonnes of material through long-term contracts or sell separately collected materials on a weekly basis. You can also watch our ‘Approach to Material Sales’ webinar which provides a virtual tour of the revised Technical Report and new Practical Guide. The webinar discusses ways local authorities can maximise the benefit they obtain for the dry recyclables they collect and covers some of the key considerations when aiming to increase revenue from the sale of recyclable materials.

In addition to producing evidence-based tools and guidance covering a range of key operational issues, WRAP works on a one-to-one basis with many individual local authorities or groups of authorities. Our free and impartial guidance and support covers a range of topics such as performance data and benchmarking, options modelling and appraising future collection options, procurement of collection services, service design, implementation and evaluation and communications to support service change. We have also recently supported authorities with soft-market testing and are keen to hear from any other authorities looking for assistance with their material sales strategy. Please email lasupport@wrap.org.uk if you think this support could benefit your authority.

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