Through WRAP’s Recycling Tracker we know that 88% of UK households regularly recycle.
This is testament to the focus and investment from WRAP’s citizen facing brand Recycle Now and its partners over the years.
However, the data in the Recycling Tracker highlights that 87% of UK households recycle 1 or more items which are not accepted in the kerbside recycling. Furthermore, 57% miss one or more items which could be recycled at the kerbside. We have made great strides, but more is needed. In a world where resources are limited. Recycle Now’s vision is to get people recycling the right things more often.
Recycle Week is a key moment in the campaign calendar for Recycle Now to raise awareness and drive actual behaviour change to get more people recycling right. Since 2004, Recycle Week delivers the nation’s largest recycling behaviour change campaign through graphic elements, video, on street initiatives, influencers and a PR strategy. Recycle Week offers the opportunity for local authorities, retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, governments and the media to come together, under one collective banner to raise awareness, make an impact and create lasting behaviour changes.
Recycle Week 2022
This year Recycle Week went bolder and bigger than ever. The theme for Recycle Week 2022 was ‘Let’s Get Real’ and it overtly challenged perceptions and myths around recycling as well as targeting contamination to improve recycling behaviours.
Our research told us that in 2022 people were searching for transparency in every walk of life. People were getting honest about where they could make personal change and we wanted to tap into this emotion.
The theme in Wales was slightly adapted to reflect the subtle differences around recycling behaviours, government priorities and infrastructure compared with the rest of the UK. This was to allow messaging to be as relevant and as impactful to each key audience.
An integrated marketing campaign was developed to address these barriers with all campaign elements working individually and as part of an integrated campaign to drive behaviour change. In order to deliver behaviour change, Recycle Now’s Recycling Locator formed the key call to action for the campaign. The Recycling Locator is the UK’s tool for checking what can be recycled at home and in our local area. Recycling Locator searches give a strong indication that citizens who take the time to check their local services will go onto recycle more effectively.
Results
Recycle Now has created a great showreel to bring to life all the incredible results. Our highlights are:
♦ Bringing together UK organisations around a central theme:
- Over 6,600 accounts used the hashtag #RecycleWeek
- 11 Recycle Week sponsors.
- 5,091 accounts downloaded Recycle Week assets with over 10,000 assets downloaded in total.
♦ Encouraging behaviour change in targeted materials:
- 88% increase in Recycling Locator searches compared to the week prior to the campaign.
- 48% more searches than when the campaign ran in September 2021.
- Plastic bags and wrapping increased by 110% and toothpaste tubes by 3000%.
♦ Engaging the media – the QR code PR activation resulted in a PR reach of 8.23m people.
♦ Delivered bespoke activity across nations.
♦ Encouraged recycling behaviour change – 3.7 million citizens said they did something differently as a result of seeing or hearing about Recycle Week.
♦ Reached and engaged citizens – engagement rates for influencers were 5.15 % (the norm on Instagram is 0.67%).
Recycle Now would like to thank all those that got involved in the Week
