Resource London ‘Cost of Contamination’ Toolkit

Objectives

In early 2016, Resource London conducted a survey with London boroughs to try and ascertain the financial effect of contamination in the recyclate stream, as well as the impact on recycling rates. This revealed that there was a distinct lack of consistency in how the authorities measure and record both the cost and the level of contamination. Therefore, the actual effect on London’s recycling rate and the true financial implication for individual waste authorities were unknown, prompting Resource London to pursue a solution. Their concept was a ‘cost of contamination’ Excel toolkit that would be a downloadable resource on the Resource London website.

Project

The Anthesis team responded to Resource London’s ITT and presented how we would develop the toolkit in line with their requirements. Once commissioned, we presented the concept of the toolkit to a working group set up by Resource London (The working group consisted of representatives from Resource London, the London Boroughs, WRAP, LARAC, LEDNET and ESA) to guide the development of the toolkit, and led a facilitated workshop to further understand what features the toolkit should include. From this, a specification was developed, in conjunction with the group, which informed the creation of the toolkit.

Once the first draft of the toolkit was produced, a number of London boroughs tested the tool for usability and relevance to their local circumstances. Following this stage, a second workshop took place that allowed the testers to provide feedback that was incorporated into the final toolkit.

Services

• Workshop facilitation to understand the needs of the working group further.
• Establishment of the specification that informed the structure and functionality of the toolkit prior to development.
• Research into different cost elements that affect the total cost of contamination for local authorities (included as default values for the toolkit).
• An Excel-based toolkit (and user guide) now available to the public.
• Facilitation of an online webinar to present the toolkit and its key features.

Impacts

The ‘cost of contamination’ toolkit is now available to the public and free to download. Resource London plan to use the toolkit in conjunction with a number of London Boroughs.