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Report writing for recycling agency WRAP

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is a government agency that helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and increase recycling. The aim is the make better use of resources and help tackle climate change.

I was asked to help create readable and compelling executive summaries of two very long, very technical reports on the viability and future of mixed plastics recycling. One of the reports was concerned with how to collect and separate mixed plastics. The second focused on the commercial viability of recycling the materials.

These are important subjects – but the reports were not exactly easy reading, and each of them was over 200 pages long.
WRAP needed compelling summaries, written in clear English, that would give a readable overview without sacrificing accuracy. They also needed an even shorter, pithier general overview of the reports to go out to the media and for use on websites.

To write these summaries, it was essential to develop an in-depth understanding of the technologies and the issues. It was a case where my combination of copywriting and journalism experience came to the fore, with the need to turn complex material into readable and persuasive copy.

The executive summaries were used to promote the reports in the media, to generate public interest and awareness. They helped WRAP to achieve their ultimate aim, which is to promote recycling with consumers, business and local authorities.