Around a quarter of all UK householders are ‘highly effective’ recyclers, but there is a need for more clear information on what can and cannot be recycled at the kerbside, a new report from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has found.

The finding comes in WRAP's annual ‘3Rs Tracking Survey: Recycling attitudes and reported behaviour’, which builds on its 2008 ‘Barriers to recycling at home’ report on understanding householders’ behaviour, attitude and understanding of recycling.

The survey was undertaken online by Icaro between 17 February and 5 March 2014 and comprised an online survey of 4,476 people in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Report findings

According to the report, 75 per cent of UK householders surveyed said they recycled in some way. A quarter of those were classed as ‘highly effective recyclers’, who consistently recycle all materials accepted by their local service without including non-targeted materials in their recycling collection, while the remaining 50 per cent either do not recycle all the materials they can, or are trying to recycle items that are not collected by their local service.

The survey found that 90 per cent or more of householders recycled the following five types of materials the last time they recycled: paper (93 per cent); card/cardboard (93 per cent); plastic bottles (91 per cent); glass (91 per cent); and cans and tins (90 per cent).

The least commonly-recycled streams were found to be: foil (55 per cent said they recycled this); food waste (49 per cent); single-use plastic bags (45 per cent); and soft plastic packaging (41 per cent), despite their authority collecting these streams.

Householders were most unsure ('not very/at all confident') about whether food waste could be recycled (79 per cent). Indeed, when respondents said they were unsure of whether or not they could recycle items, they also said they were more likely to dispose of them in general waste. The main anomaly seemed to be for soft plastic packaging, where 55 per cent of those who disposed of this stream in general waste said they were 'very/fairly confident' of it being recyclable.

Further to this, just under half of UK householders surveyed (46 per cent) admitted to disposing of one or more items that their council collected as part of its kerbside recycling service in the general waste bin (although 54 per cent said they did not do so on the last disposal occasion). There was no explanation as to why they did this.

Growing confidence in recycling of some streams

The main difference in the 2014 survey from last year's survey is that there is a growing confidence in the recyclability of: plastic pots, tubs and trays; aerosols; foil; soft plastic packaging; and plastic bottles, with increases of seven per cent for plastic, pots tubs and trays, and three per cent for all the other streams.

However, the rise in confidence has not always been warranted, with 22 per cent of people putting out plastic pots, tubs and trays for recycling in areas where it was not collected. The same percentage was also doing this with cartons, with the largest proportion of people doing so living in Wales (42 per cent). In contrast, those living in Wales were least likely of all UK residents to try and recycle plastic pots, tubs and trays (12 per cent), with those living in Northern Ireland most likely to do so (30 per cent) when they do not have a collection service to accommodate this stream.

A further example of confusion over local authority recycling offerings was demonstrated by the 68 per of householders who lived in a council area collecting aerosols for recycling saying that they thought that either the council didn't collect or were unsure as to whether they collected them. A further 12 per cent of those putting aerosols in the general waste bin claimed to know that their council collected them as part of their kerbside recycling service, but did not recycle them on the last disposal occasion.

However, the survey found that no matter how many items householders recycled 'effectively', the majority believed that they were 'doing as well as [they] can' with recycling – with 82 per cent of those not placing any non-target materials in their recycling agreeing with the statement, and 83 per cent of those placing three or more non-target materials in their recycling agreeing.

The survey argued that this could be improved with more effective communication, as 21 per cent of those who are 'not very/at all confident' with recycling said they had not received information about what could be recycled at the kerbside in the past year. Indeed, WRAP outlined that councils and waste management companies could help residents by providing ‘clear, simple messages around what can be recycled locally’.

A quarter of households are 'highly-effective recyclers'

The report reads: 'Further increases in recycling performance will require action to increase the capture of materials that are collected for recycling while, at the same time, ensuring that this does not lead to increased levels of non-targeted materials (thereby reducing quality). To establish current levels of performance, these two requirements – increasing capture and improving quality – can be used to segment UK households.

'According to this segmentation, approximately a quarter of households are ‘highly effective’ recyclers – they neither placed non-targeted materials in their kerbside collection on the last disposal occasion nor did they put any items in the general waste bin that are not collected for recycling by their council. However, by extension, this means that approximately three quarters could be recycling more effectively in one or more ways: either because they say they disposed of an item in the general bin that they could recycle [at the] kerbside; or because they say they placed an item in the kerbside recycling that is not collected locally for recycling; or both.

'There is a strong association between reported receipt of information on the kerbside collection and levels of effective recycling – 70% of those who effectively recycle 9+ items according to their claimed behaviour say they received information (vs. 38% and 23% of those claiming to recycle 1-2 items and 0 items, respectively).'

Marcus Gover, Director of WRAP, commented: “In the past 10 years we’ve seen a significant rise in recycling rates; however, we still have a long way to go. Using the findings of the ‘Barriers to recycling at home’ report, we know where to focus our attention when giving support and guidance to partners, ensuring that they are able to offer the right service which allows more residents to recycle highly effectively.”

WRAP added that to further recycling communication, it will next year release new Recycle Now communication resources and re-launch the existing postcode locator on www.recyclenow.com, which enables consumers to access up-to-date information about their local recycling schemes the next year.

Read ‘3Rs Tracking Survey: Recycling attitudes and reported behaviour’, the ‘Barriers to recycling at home’ report, or find out more about the different types of recycling behaviour.