Recycle Week 2021
Recycle Week is Recycle Now’s flagship annual event which is a celebration of recycling across the nation. It’s the one week of the year where retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, governments and the media come together to achieve one goal: to galvanise the public into recycling more of the right things, more often.
Objectives of Recycle Week 2021
Recycle Week 2021 was held between 20th - 26th September, which focused on climate change and how by doing the simple act of recycling everyone can help make a huge difference to our planet. Recycle Now asked the nation to ‘Step It Up’ and be more effective recyclers by checking items a little closer.
The Week saw a myriad of campaign activities happen across the nation including three striking murals on prominent buildings in London, Newcastle and Belfast. Each was created by local artists who interpreted the ‘Step It Up’ theme. The artworks were created using Ambient Pro paint, which absorbs CO2 and cleans the air of other toxins.
Besides the exciting campaign activities, the Recycling Tracker is used during the Week. It is the largest and longest running survey on recycling attitudes, values and behaviours. The Spring 2021 survey had a detailed focus on contamination, with previous waves of the tracker pointing to an increasing trend.
Findings
The March 2021 wave was undertaken with a total of 4,725 UK adults from 6th - 12th March 2021. Overall, the survey demonstrates the following 4 key findings about recycling behaviour:
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Overall established norms and high levels of recycling: Almost 9 in 10 (88%) UK households say they ‘regularly’ recycle.
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Just over half of UK households (52%) say they have recycled more in the past year
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There remain opportunities to increase recycling capture: over half (55%) of UK households put 1 or more items in the general rubbish that is collected for recycling kerbside (1.6 items on average).
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There is also a key opportunity to reduce contamination: the majority (85%) of UK households put one or more items in the recycling that is not accepted locally (4.4 items on average).
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When missed capture and contamination are combined, close to 1 in 4 (24%) UK households classify as the highest performing recyclers.
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In contrast, 1 in 5 (20%) classify as lower performing recyclers.
With a detailed focus on contamination, the research suggests that contamination is largely the result of well-intentioned or misplaced attempts to recycle, as opposed to a lack of concern or care. For instance, of those mistakenly putting drinking glasses in the recycling, the vast majority (86%) think that it is accepted in their kerbside collection. The same pattern is true for other key contaminants, such as toothpaste tubes (84% think it is accepted in their collection) and light bulbs (72%).
Further Information
To find out more about Recycle Week 2021: https://www.recyclenow.com/recycle-week-2021
To find out more about Recycling Tracker Report 2021 and its previous years: https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/recycling-tracker-report-2021-behaviours-attitudes-and-awareness-around-recycling
To find out more about Recycle Now, do visit us on our Instagram @recyclenow_uk, Twitter @recycle_now and Facebook @recyclenow.
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