Under UK regulations introduced in 2017, organisations with more than 250 employees must report their gender pay gap annually using a snapshot date of 5 April.
Following the Employment Rights Act 2025, these organisations will be required to publish mandatory gender pay gap plans from 1 January 2027.
Median gap still favours men
The median gender pay gap, which measures the difference between the midpoint of male and female hourly earnings, continues to favour men across most organisations analysed.
Four of the seven organisations – Defra, Veolia, FCC Environment and Viridor – report a median gap in favour of men.
In contrast, the Environment Agency reports a median gap of 0%, indicating parity, while Suez reports a slight median gap in favour of women.
The median hourly percentage difference is helpful as it can work out how much a woman earns for every pound of that by a man. At Defra, for example, women earn 93p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay.
This reflects a continued structural trend across the sector, with lower-paid operational roles, typically male-dominated, influencing the midpoint of earnings.
Mean pay gap more evenly split
The mean gender pay gap, which looks at average earnings, presents a more balanced picture.
Four organisations report a mean gap in favour of men, while three report a gap in favour of women.
This divergence between mean and median measures highlights a key feature of the waste sector workforce.
While men continue to dominate overall employee numbers, particularly in operational roles, women are increasingly represented in higher-paid managerial and professional positions.
As a result, average earnings are often closer to parity, or even favour women, despite the median gap still favouring men.
Bonus gap shows widest variation
The bonus pay gap remains the most variable and least consistent metric across organisations.
Across the sector, bonus gaps are influenced by a range of structural factors, including differences in eligibility between operational and managerial roles, the prevalence of part-time working, and variations in how bonus schemes are structured.
For example, some organisations note that operational roles more commonly held by men may receive smaller, more frequent bonuses, while managerial roles where women are increasingly represented may attract larger annual payments.
Industry response
Letsrecycle.com reached out to these companies, who highlighted the ongoing efforts to improve gender balance and ensure fair pay practices across their workforces.
Emma Leadsom, Reward Director at Biffa, said the company’s results show “continued progress”.
Leadsom commented: “Our focus is on continuing to support progression and broadening representation across operational, technical and leadership roles so that this progress is sustained over the long term.”
Dr Tracey Leghorn, Chief Business Services Officer at Suez, said the numbers reflect the higher number of female employees working in mid-level roles compared to frontline positions.
She added: “We actively work on diversifying and supporting our workforce at all levels, including through groups like our Women’s Network which I’m proud to chair.”
Beth Whittaker, Chief HR Officer for Northern Europe at Veolia, said the company is seeking to build on recent progress: “Whilst progress has been made, it doesn’t mean that we stand still.
“Our new Inclusion and Wellbeing Commitments will help us to push on further by bringing generations together, increasing representation, caring for our people and creating a deeper sense of belonging within the organisation.”
Meanwhile, FCC Environment said its approach to job evaluation has supported progress towards pay equality.
A spokesperson added: “FCC Environment (UK) Ltd has a robust job evaluation process for all non-manual roles.
“This has enabled us to create a framework of pay ranges that avoids any gender bias and in doing so we’ve made steady progress on gender pay equality, and our figures show we are moving in the right direction.”
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