Nearly two-thirds of people confused about recycling were most uncertain about which types of recycling they could recycle, a new study has found.

Plastics packaging recycling company Recoup launched its recycling ‘consumer perceptions study’ at the Kent Resource Partnership (KRP) Annual Conference today (13 March), in the hopes of identifying and tackling the barriers to plastics recycling.

Supported by majority funding from the Department of Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the KRP and the Plastic Recycling Communications Initiative Steering Group, the study involved an online survey of 4,000 adults aged 18 and over in the UK.

Taking place from 8-20 November 2013, the survey comprised of 3,123 interviews in England, 409 in Scotland, 366 in Wales and 102 in Northern Ireland.

Research results

According to the results of this research, while over a third (34 per cent) of householders said they were ‘very confident’ about all materials they can and cannot recycle, over half (52 per cent) said they were ‘mostly confident but unsure of one or two materials’, with 12 per cent saying they were ’50:50’ (confident about half and unsure about half), and just two per cent saying they were ‘not at all confident’.

Of the respondents who were unsure of one or more items, the vast majority (63 per cent) said plastic was the material they were most uncertain about. By contrast, only seven per cent said they were unsure about certain kinds of glass, seven per cent about certain kinds of cardboard and six per cent about lids/tops.

Older respondents (aged 65 plus) were more likely to say they recycled all plastics (64 per cent), with 42 per cent of people aged between 18 and 34 citing the same.

Recoup found that the three key reasons householders were uncertain about plastics recycling were due to:

• information from the council not offering ‘guidance about the item in question’ (42 per cent);
• the fact that plastics packaging is often made up of multiple materials (42 per cent); and
• information on pack is not clear enough (40 per cent).

However, 75 per cent of respondents stated that they were ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ interested to find out more about what happens to their plastics.

Over one in three (36 per cent) of householders said that they would like to see plastic film, carrier bags and food packaging collected, (second only to batteries (48 per cent)), with 21 per cent wanting plastic pots, tubs and trays collected. Less than 10 per cent said they wanted plastic bottles collecting, which Recoup says relects the fact that many councils already offer this service.

Preference of waste disposal

Further, the survey showed that out of 12 potential changes to plastic recycling services, the three most popular were: ‘if the council accepted more plastics materials’ (gaining an average score of 8.8 out of 10); better guidance from the council (8.0) and better recycling labels on pack (7.6).

When asked about the acceptability of different disposal options for plastics, households indicated ‘near-universal acceptability for recycling’. In contrast, sending plastics to landfill was considered unacceptable by the ‘vast majority’.

Over 70 per cent of respondents also considered burning plastics as a form of energy from waste ‘acceptable’ and more acceptable than sending plastics to other countries to be recycled.

‘Most insightful plastic recycling consumer survey ever undertaken’

Speaking of the findings, Stuart Foster, Recoup CEO, said: “This is one of the largest and most insightful plastic recycling consumer surveys ever undertaken, and gives us a fantastic platform to develop a communications initiative which can achieve maximum impact based on the feedback received.

“The steering group will use the information from the consumer insight work to continue to develop plans which will culminate in a Summer 2014 initiative launch.”

Councillor Paul Barrington-King, KRP Chair added: “Consumer education is a key driver for behavioural change and to increasing plastic recycling rates in Kent and across the country. Consumers need ongoing help on which plastics can be recycled as technology progresses, and why there may be economic limitations for some plastics.”

Barrington-King went on to announce that council partnerships in managing waste could save money, estimating that the KRP could save up to £60-million by 2022/23 through KRP projects.

Read the report summary.