It has been another busy month here in the LARAC office.
I attended the daytime event at the National Letsrecycle Conference & Dinner 2023, and throughout the day, I experienced a palpable shared frustration from speakers and delegates alike. That frustration grew from the absence of the keynote speaker, our Minister of government. In her place, an Orwellian-style address via a pre-recorded video. Suffice it to say that we all felt that absence keenly and had hoped for more at this point in the year. We are still trying to determine when the consistency response will be published.
I found myself in London again for the CIWM Resourcing the Future conference, where we were taken back in time to consider the scale of what has been achieved across the sector since recycling targets for household waste were first introduced. As someone relatively new to the industry, I love nothing more than hearing about the early days of recycling collections, especially from those who were there. Whilst acknowledging progress, we must also realise we still have far to go if we are to create a circular economy.
Early last month, we saw a misguided and ill-informed National media storm whipped up around 'wish-cycling. Headlines like; ‘Government telling people to recycle fewer things to stop contamination by non-recyclables', capturing the attention of residents up and down the UK, no doubt leading to confusion and mistrust in curbside collections and the wider recycling sector. Later in June, we met with a journalist who wanted LARAC’s view on the debacle. We explained that we feel frustrated by lazy journalism and badly chosen words. A single (or multiple) headline can lead to unravelling years of communications work and derail momentum and progress. Communicating with residents is an art form, and it takes real effort, time and resource to cultivate a strategy that works for all. Media could help rather than hinder progress by signposting readers to their local authority's website for information on what can and can't be recycled from home. Contamination is still a big issue for local authorities, whether due to willful disregard or wish-cycling (as in most cases). We can see this in the number of you who registered for our contamination in recycling webinar last week – over 300!
I enjoyed speaking at the CIWM & LARAC West Midlands event at Craemer in Telford. It was a lovely opportunity to network and catch up with old colleagues. My presentation was focused on policy across nations and how despite best efforts to move toward the common goal of consistency for collections, there are still wide discrepancies in recycling rates across and within nations. We also heard from many great speakers, including Jim from Conwy Council, who spoke about their journey to zero waste and how they have boldly moved to restrict residual collections to every 4 weeks.
I am looking forward to the Wales Conference in Cardiff next week. Last chance to sign up for your free place. See you there!
