Northern Ireland people are the least likely to say they recycle all they can

I don’t know whether it’s because we don’t care about recycling  - or whether we just don’t bother to lie about it.

According to a new poll, people living in Northern Ireland (63%) are the least likely in the UK to say they recycle all they can.

In contrast, people living in Wales are among the most likely to say that they are already recycling all they can (75%) - and in fairness the region has been praised for its cohesive and ambitious recycling strategy.

Wales is trailed by people living in parts of England, such as the West Midlands (69%) and London (68%).

The findings come from a poll conducted by Serco’s Environmental Services business and long-term research partner Future Thinking, which surveyed over 12,000 members of the general public and has been published to mark National Recycle Week (12-18 September).

Overall, the results show nearly 3 in 10 people don’t recycle as much as they could, with 38% of those people citing confusing information on packaging or from local authorities as the reason.

These figures are more pronounced among younger people, with those aged 16-34 least likely to say that they recycle all they can (57%) and more likely to be confused about what can be recycled.

The poll shows that the likelihood to recycle increases with age, with 82% of 55-74 year olds and 88% over 75s saying they recycle all they can.

Other reasons people gave for not recycling more, included: the need for collections to be more frequent (8%); the need for some kind of financial reward (5%); that they did not have recycling bags or bins (5%); they didn’t believe it was being recycled (4%) and, that they simply could not be bothered (3%).

Serco’s Environmental Service’s business estimates that confusion over what can be put in household recycling is costing local authorities around £45m each year as a result of contaminated waste that is unable to be processed.

As it’s often cheaper to burn than process mixed waste, there is also a wider environmental impact in terms of increased CO2 emissions, the company says.

Serco is urging the waste industry to work together with local authorities, retailers and consumer goods manufacturers to standardise recycling communications and develop a simpler recycling labelling system for food and product packaging which is easier for consumers of all ages to understand.

Robin Davies, Serco’s Business Development Director for Environmental Services, said recycling rates appear to have plateaued over recent years.

“Councils and service providers put a lot of effort into communicating guidelines to local residents, but their job would be made easier if we all worked together to simplify and standardise recycling information,” he says.

“Clearer and consistent information would help people understand what items to put in the right bins and recycle more, leaving local authorities to set their waste collection policies to suit local needs, and building greater confidence among the public that items that can be recycled are being recycled.

“Today’s millennials have grown up in a world where recycling is common practice, with ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ taught in schools, so it’s surprising that younger people are most confused.  The poll suggests we look again at how we are communicating with this audience, especially when digital transformation is already high on the agenda of most local authorities.”