WRAP has charity status confirmed

The organisation hopes that the move will give it access to more sources of funding, after its budget from government has been cut in successive years. Funding for WRAP was reduced from £38.9 million in 2013/14 to £35 million in 2014/15. This is set to reduce further in 2015/16.

An application was lodged in August with the Charity Commission, and the transition has been rubber stamped today, taking immediate effect. WRAP is now registered under the charity number 1159512.

Despite the transition, the organisation has pledged to continue its support for local authorities, and in recent weeks has been engaged by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to investigate the flat-lining rate of growth in recycling rates within the UK.

Commenting on the confirmation of WRAP’s charity move, the organisation’s chief executive Liz Goodwin, said: “While much of WRAP’s work has always been charitable in nature, registering as a charity cements this philosophy by giving us more scope to explore new ways of working and develop new ideas. It also opens up opportunities to access new sources of funding through foundations and trusts.”

Dr Goodwin added: “WRAP is valued for its role in bringing different groups together, to drive change, and I believe we are better able to play that role as a charity.”

Resources

WRAP, which was established by the Labour government in 2000, was set up to help businesses and local authorities manage waste and use resources efficiently. It is funded by Defra, the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland and the EU.

The move from a not-for-profit company to a charity was first mooted in February, when it was also confirmed that the Scottish arm of the organisation, Zero Waste Scotland, was to break away to form its own entity (see letsrecycle.com).

In recent years much of WRAP’s work has focussed on the reduction of food waste, through the Love Food, Hate Waste project, while the organisation has also done a lot of work on the reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), as well as contributing to work on separate collections through the Waste Network Chiefs’ TEEP routemap and continuing to offer a range of communications materials to councils through the Recycle Now brand.

The charitable status is expected to see WRAP expand its international activities – already it has secured work on a food waste campaign in Canada.