UK Gate Fees report 2023-24

Comparing the costs of alternative waste treatment options

The most recent in our long running series of gate fees reports, the Gate Fees report 2023-24 provides the latest costs for a range of waste and recycling treatments and also highlights recent trends and emerging themes for such contracts and services.

Key findings include:

• Median Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) gate fees have continued to increase, following the trend seen in previous surveys.
• The gate fee charged for treatment by Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has increased from 2022-23 whilst the Non-hazardous landfill (HHLF) gate fee has decreased.
• The Gate Fees charged for In-Vessel Composting (IVC) have changed depending on the input material with ‘mixed food & green waste’ and ‘food waste only’ increasing whilst ‘green waste only’ decreased.
• New categories were introduced for Energy from Waste (EfW) gate fees. The purpose of introducing these was to gauge whether gate fees differed based on the inclusion of waste containing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The report found the inclusion of POPs did marginally increase gate fees.
• The anticipated impact of the expansion in scope of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was a key trend in the Gate Fees 2023-24 report, with the upcoming changes to the ETS being cited as the most common reason for anticipated futures changes in EfW gate fees and the fifth most common for NHLF gate fees.

The report is particularly relevant to Local Authorities looking to better understand the current situation in the gate fees and plan for future services and contracts.