Almost half of people believe recycling services in the UK have improved in the last five years, a poll commissioned by the BBC and undertaken by ICM Research has found.

The poll, released today (9 October), surveyed 1,031 people on their perceptions of the quality of public services in the past five years, in the face of government spending cuts.

According to the BBC, the poll suggests that ‘six out of 10 people think service quality has been maintained or improved’.

Recycling and refuse results

Respondents were asked to rate public service delivery over the last five years. When asked whether recycling collections had ‘got better or worse in the last five years’ (and how much), or whether it had stayed the same, 27 per cent of people said they believed that recycling collections had ‘got much better’, 21 per cent said they had ‘got a little better’, while 12 per cent believed they had ‘got worse’. This gives recycling an overall ‘net better’ score of 36 per cent, which is the highest score attributed to any public service in the poll. Around 37 per cent of people said they believed recycling collection services had ‘stayed the same’.

Furthermore, the poll examined average responses to recycling collections by region; it found that Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were the regions in which most people believed services had improved, with ‘net better’ scores of 61, 53 and 41 per cent respectively. In contrast, the North East and North West of England came out with the lowest ‘net better’ scores of 17 and 21 per cent respectively.

The poll showed that people also believe refuse collections to have improved in the last five years, although the ‘net better’ score was markedly lower than for recycling collections, coming in at just five per cent. Around 13 per cent of those surveyed believed that refuse services had ‘got much better’, 16 per cent said services were ‘a little better’, while 23 per cent thought they had ‘got worse’. Almost half of respondents (45 per cent) believed that the quality of refuse collections had ‘stayed the same’.

However, regional responses to the quality of refuse collections differed from those concerning recycling services. The South East of England was most satisfied with refuse collections, with a ‘net better’ score of 20 per cent; Northern Ireland and Eastern England followed on with scores of 19 and 16 per cent respectively.

Contrary to its high satisfaction with recycling services, Wales ranked as the region most dissatisfied with refuse collections, coming in with a net score of minus 17 per cent. North West and North East England also ranked low, with scores of minus 16 and 7 per cent respectively.

‘Hard work of council recycling officers recognised’

Speaking of the poll results concerning recycling and refuse services, a spokesperson for Local Government Association (LGA), said: “Councils know the importance of waste collection to their communities and it is pleasing that this poll confirms that the vast majority of people remain satisfied with their recycling and refuse collection services.

“Household recycling has more than doubled to 43 per cent in the last decade due to councils becoming better and more efficient at collecting and disposing of waste and recycling. This has helped the environment and saved council taxpayers millions of pounds in landfill taxes.But we’re only halfway through the cuts and a key decision on the level of landfill tax has yet to be made that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

“By freezing landfill tax and reinvesting the money in forward thinking waste and recycling projects, local government could stimulate growth, create jobs and boost an important revenue stream. This would help limit the impact of budget cuts and help us continue to deliver the services our residents rely on, from protecting children, fixing roads and caring for the elderly.”

Further, Chair of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), Joy Blizzard, added:"LARAC members have repeatedly demonstrated high public satisfaction levels with recycling services over the last few years. These have remained high despite numerous changes - AWC [alternate weekly collections] and food waste collections being just two examples.

"I'm pleased to see the hard work of council recycling officers recognised in the latest survey although some of the on-going financial pressures are not necessarily being felt yet – but they are likely to be in the future."

ead the full results of the poll here.