The WFAA operates through a Steering Group and a Secretariat. The Steering Group comprises companies appointed by the members. The Steering Group meets on a regular basis to discuss Association business, arrange technical events for the members and put forward recommendations for discussion at the member meetings/workshops.

The Association is administered by a full time Secretariat. The Secretariat is responsible for the Association finances, day-to-day administration, maintaining a database of waste facilities and audit reports, managing the Association’s audit programmes on behalf of the membership & liaising with the WFAA’s legal advisors and audit consultants.

WFAA membership currently comprises some forty UK, European & International companies.

Member meetings/technical workshops are held regularly and as well as covering formal Association business also includes technical presentations by guest speakers, WFAA members and regulatory organisations on topics of interest to the members.

The members of the Association commission audits of waste facilities that they commonly use in the UK and mainland Europe through international environmental consultants. The Association operates two audit programmes. These are:

UK core audit programme
Mainland European core audit programme

UK core audit programme
The WFAA’s UK core audit programme operates over a three-year period. The programme covers the audit of major UK waste management facilities. Each participating member receives all commissioned audit reports over a three-year period (approximately 10 audit reports per year) at a cost of £1751 per year per member giving a cost per audit report of approximately £175.

The programme is an ongoing process and each year the members agree those facilities to be included in the next year’s programme to make any adjustments needed as a result of changing priorities.

Mainland Europe core audit programme
The European core audit programme operates along the same lines as the UK programme but addresses waste management facilities that the members want audited in mainland Europe. The programme covers the audit of major mainland Europe waste management facilities. Each participating member receives all audit reports over a three-year period (approximately 10 audit reports per year) at a cost of £2266 per year per member giving a cost per audit report of approximately £226.

The programme is an ongoing process and each year the members agree those facilities to be included in the next year’s programme to make any adjustments needed because of changing priorities.

Audit nomination process
The WFAA audit nomination programme is undertaken once per year and involves each member submitting details to the Secretary of UK and mainland Europe waste sites that they would like audited by the WFAA over the next 36 months. The Secretary consolidates these nominations to establish the levels of commonality between the members for each audit. These are then reviewed by the WFAA Steering Group to establish the costs associated with undertaking the audits. The results are then communicated to the members for commitment or otherwise to proceed with the audits.

Where waste sites do not have more than one member expressing an interest in the audit then that member may sole sponsor the audit. Should other members purchase the audit before the issue of the audit report then the cost per member is reduced proportionally.