Welcome to Resource Recovery Forum

The Resource Recovery Forum is an international non-profit network of around 250 organisations interested in sustainable waste management - making better use of waste that is produced. The Forum's aims are simple. 

RRF was established in 1997 and its membership is drawn from: industry; local & national government; international institutions; academia; the voluntary sector; waste management businesses; NGOs, and; consultants. We have member organisations from Canada and the USA across many European countries to Australasia. From AEA to Yale University.

RRF has five Trustees, one of whom is elected as Chair, every other year. Copies of the new, approved Memorandum & Articles of Association of the Resource Recovery Forum can be downloaded from here.

The Forum benefits from the members' Advisory Committee, a group of 30 members who are also elected every two years.

Membership benefits

Members of the Forum receive many benefits. The Forum organises conferences and meetings, and both endorses and speaks at third party events. RRF operates a great news service, delivered daily (up to 1,000 items pa, no adverts, no attachments, just useful and topical information on policy & practice from around the world) or as weekly digests, and these come as emails or as a PDF attachment.

A single member organisation can add unlimited numbers of employees to this fine facility. Also, the items are archived online and are fully searchable. In 2010, the Forum introduced a more detailed report archive than ever before, where members can download copies of the RRF's own reports, funded through the UK Landfill Tax Credit system.These reports can be found here (you will need your RRF userid & password).

The Forum's regular Advisory Committee meetings (4-5 per year, usually in London) are open to all RRF members, and invariably feature an interesting guest presentation. Last December, Sarah Gray from WRAP attended and gave a presentation on recent food waste studies. Follow this link for Sarah's slides and the two studies. In April 2010, WRAP's Keith James gave a presentation on a study reviewing life cycle assessments related to recycling. Follow this for a copy of Keith's slides. In June, Julian Parfitt (Resource Futures) gave an illustrated presentation on a detailed 2010 review of MSW compositional studies. His presentation is available here.

In September, Ann Billings from TBL in New Zealand gave a presentation on waste management in New Zealand. The presentation is available from here.

On December 2, the RRF Advisory Committee received a presentation from AEA's Sarahjane Widdowson entitled "The use of Social Networks and modern technology in engaging residents in waste and recycling…". The slides can be downloaded from here.

On February 15, Nick Morley (Director, Sustainable Innovation at Oakdene Hollins) gave a presentation to the Resource Recovery Forum, on the important topic of critical raw materials. Nick's slides can be downloaded from here.

On April 8, 2011, WRAP's Environmental Manager Keith James gave a presentation on the recent Scottish Carbon Metric  Technical Report. The Carbon Metric Reporting System for Recycling Performance is  intended to inform waste policy and to promote a reduction in the environmental  impact of resource use. The Carbon Metric was designed by the Scottish Government  and Zero Waste Scotland. Keith's presentation can be downloaded from here.

On June 7, Jane Bickerstaffe (Director of Incpen) gave a presentation on packaging and packaging waste. New research commissioned by INCPEN sets out the reasons why goods are packaged in a particular way, and the innovative technology behind the choices made. Jane's presentation is available from here.