With the introduction of Simpler Recycling legislation just a few months away, Tom Giddings, executive director of Alupro, explains why local authorities should take full advantage of its free resources and fully funded communications programmes to help drive widespread behavioural change.
From April 2026, the introduction of Simpler Recycling legislation will redefine how household waste is separated and collected in the UK. By establishing a standard set of packaging materials to be collected for recycling across the country, the move aims to make recycling not only more consistent, but also easier to understand – no matter where you live or work.
For local authorities, Simpler Recycling requires careful consideration. Alongside balancing the challenge of adapting existing services to collect core materials, councils will also need to navigate the provision of weekly food waste collections.
While waste collectors will retain the flexibility to make the best choices to suit local needs, including the best processes and frequencies to maximise engagement, authorities will need to rethink their vehicles, containers, routes and even their infrastructure to meet the new requirements. Government funding has been provided to help with implementation, but this must be used exclusively for capital and operational preparation.
As such, while councils will still need to inform residents about what goes into each bin, education and engagement must be delivered through their own means. With budgets tight and departments shrinking, achieving this will prove a considerable challenge.
At Alupro, we’ve been running consumer engagement campaigns to help local authorities drive widespread behavioural change for more than 20 years. Alongside our MetalMatters initiative, which encourages residents to think carefully about how and why they recycle metal packaging, we operate dedicated campaigns to directly impact the capture rate of valuable aluminium packaging, such as cans, foil and aerosols.
To help support the roll-out of Simpler Recycling, we’ve created a free suite of social media assets, which can be downloaded through our website and used to inform residents about upcoming changes. We’re also looking to partner with councils to offer fully-funded campaigns to specifically support the introduction of foil recycling at the kerbside.
Foil in Love with Recycling is our consumer engagement programme designed to increase aluminium foil collection volumes. Targeting residents through social media outreach, leaflet drops and other marketing tactics, the initiative aims to help residents recognise and recycle more foil packaging items.
Funding is provided by the metal packaging industry, which means that councils can hit the ground running with a highly cost-effective solution to maximise aluminium foil capture rates. It’s a win-win situation, offering the potential to increase collection volumes, reach impending targets and vastly improve recycling revenues.
With the support of the Alupro team and funding from the metal packaging industry, embracing change is easy.
To access Alupro’s suite of assets visit here, or to find out more about its consumer education initiatives, visit www.alupro.org.uk or contact us at info@alupro.org.uk.
