Charity Engagement Day 2026
The future of charity waste management: Key insights from our charity engagement day
Charities across the UK are facing increasing pressure to reduce waste, improve sustainability performance and maximise social value from their operations. From managing unsold textiles to improving resource efficiency and navigating changing environmental requirements, organisations are having to take a more strategic approach to waste management than ever before.
Through its work with charities, charity retailers and social enterprises across the UK, Biffa is seeing a number of these challenges reflected across the sector. To explore these issues further, Biffa recently brought together charity leaders, sector partners and sustainability specialists for a Charity Engagement Day focused on the future of charity waste management, circularity and social value.
Sustainability is becoming a strategic priority
Waste management is no longer viewed solely as an operational function. Increasingly, charities are having to consider how sustainability, compliance reporting requirements and social value commitments influence decision-making across their organisations.
During the event, Biffa shared insight into the evolving sustainability landscape and how organisations can take a more strategic approach to resource management. This includes understanding the role waste plays in wider environmental objectives, identifying opportunities to reduce carbon impacts and preparing for future regulatory change. Attendees discussed the critical role of innovation in helping organisations respond to evolving sustainability requirements by identifying those opportunities with genuine potential to improve resource efficiency and create value, now and into the future.
For many organisations, sustainability is no longer simply about reducing waste, it is becoming an important part of long-term organisational resilience and stakeholder expectations.
Packaging and resource efficiency are under greater scrutiny
Another key topic discussed during the event was packaging.
As legislation and sustainability requirements continue to evolve, organisations are increasingly being asked to consider the full impact of the products, packaging and materials they use. This means looking beyond how materials perform in use and considering what happens at the end of their life, from recyclability and reuse potential to disposal outcomes. With reforms such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and greater focus on recyclability assessments, end-of-life outcomes are becoming an increasingly important part of decision-making.
This reflects a broader shift across multiple sectors, where organisations are moving towards more circular approaches that consider the cradle-to-grave impact of products and packaging, seeking to retain the value of materials for longer and reduce waste, rather than focusing solely on their use phase.
Circular economy thinking can unlock greater value
The event also explored how organisations can maximise value from resources through reuse, refurbishment, redistribution and other circular approaches that keep products and materials in use for longer. Rather than becoming waste, surplus resources can often be redirected to create both environmental and social value.
Company Shop Group shared insight into how surplus products can be kept in circulation and redirected to create both environmental and social benefits. Attendees also learned more about Community Shop and how redistribution models can support communities while reducing waste.
During the year, Community Shop have delivered over 54,000 personal development programmes.
For Biffa, these examples reflect a wider opportunity. By viewing materials as valuable resources rather than waste, organisations can unlock greater value, reduce environmental impacts and support broader social value objectives. These examples reflect a key principle of the circular economy: keeping products and materials in use at their highest value for as long as possible.
Innovation is playing an increasingly important role in enabling this transition. At Biffa, we see innovation as a key enabler of sustainability, with new technologies and data-driven insights helping organisations better understand material flows, identify opportunities to recover greater value from resources, and target action where it can deliver the greatest environmental and operational benefit. By improving visibility of what materials are entering the waste stream and where value is being lost, organisations can make better-informed decisions that support resource efficiency and circularity.
Textile waste remains one of the sector's biggest challenges
One of the clearest themes to emerge from the day was the ongoing challenge of textile waste.
While charity retailers play a vital role in extending the life of clothing through resale and reuse, managing textiles that cannot be sold remains a significant issue. Through its work across the charity sector, Biffa continues to see organisations looking for more sustainable and scalable solutions, particularly as expectations around circularity continue to grow.
The discussion highlighted the need for more UK-based solutions for textiles that cannot be resold, such as improved sorting, repair, fibre-to-fibre recycling or other processing routes that keep materials in use for longer rather than sending them to disposal.
Addressing this challenge will require continued innovation across collection, sorting, reuse and recycling systems. Biffa is working with customers and innovators to explore and support the scaling of solutions that can unlock greater value from hard to recycle waste streams, including textiles that cannot currently be resold.
Collaboration remains a powerful catalyst for change
While the challenges discussed throughout the day were varied, a common theme emerged: organisations are often facing similar issues but tackling them independently.
Bringing charities together created an opportunity to share experiences, learn from different approaches and identify common priorities. These conversations not only provided valuable insight for attendees but also reinforced the importance of collaboration in developing practical, scalable solutions.
Looking ahead
The discussions at Biffa's Charity Engagement Day highlighted significant opportunities for organisations willing to embrace more circular, sustainable approaches to resource management.
Whether addressing textile waste, improving packaging choices, maximising reuse opportunities or delivering greater social value, organisations that take a more strategic approach to waste and resources will be better placed to adapt to evolving legislation, improve sustainability performance and unlock greater value from their resources.
By combining sector expertise, innovation and collaboration, Biffa continues to help charities navigate these challenges and identify practical solutions that can deliver both environmental and social impact.
Looking for expert waste management support?
Whether you're looking to reduce hard to recycle waste, improve recycling performance, maximise value from surplus resources or identify new opportunities to support your sustainability and circular economy objectives, our experts can help.
FAQs: Charity waste management and sustainability
What are the biggest waste management challenges facing charities?
Many charities face challenges around managing difficult waste streams, including unsold textiles, obsolete media such as DVDs, contaminated donations and specialist items that cannot be easily reused or recycled. Alongside these operational challenges, organisations are also under increasing pressure to improve recycling performance and demonstrate measurable sustainability and social value outcomes.
How can charities reduce textile waste?
Reducing textile waste requires a combination of reuse, resale, repair and recycling. Developing more domestic processing infrastructure and circular solutions for non-resalable textiles will be critical to achieving long-term progress.
Why is sustainability becoming more important for charities?
Charities are facing increasing expectations from stakeholders, funders and communities to demonstrate environmental responsibility, reduce carbon emissions and maximise social value alongside their core objectives.
What is the circular economy and how can it help charities?
A circular economy aims to keep products and materials in use for as long as possible through reuse, refurbishment, redistribution and recycling. This can help charities reduce waste, lower costs and maximise value from resources.
How can charities increase social value through waste management?
By prioritising reuse, refurbishment and redistribution initiatives, charities can reduce waste while delivering wider community benefits, including access to products, skills development and employment support.
