Every year, Recycle Week demonstrates the power of collaboration - local authorities, businesses, schools, and communities coming together to remind citizens that recycling matters. The energy and support during this year’s campaign was inspiring. But our latest UK Recycling Tracker 2025 makes one thing clear: we cannot afford for that momentum to fade.
For over 20 years, WRAP’s Recycling Tracker has monitored UK citizens’ attitudes and behaviours around recycling. This year, more than 5,400 people shared their views - and the results show both challenges and opportunities.
Citizens are recycling - but confidence is falling
- Nearly 9 in 10 citizens recycle regularly, but many aren’t sure they’re doing it right.
- Only 1 in 10 feel “very confident” about what can and can’t be recycled.
- Worthwhileness is declining - in 2014, 80% felt their efforts were worthwhile. Today, just 69% do.
- Confusion drives mistakes: 79% of households miss at least one item they could have recycled, and 81% put in at least one item that causes contamination.
This erosion of confidence is worrying. When people doubt whether their actions make a difference, they disengage. Recycling relies not only on access to services but also on strong social norms and a belief that “people like me do this, and it matters.”
Where trust and knowledge grow, so does participation
Timely prompts, clear rules, and visible feedback shape what people do. The Tracker also highlights a crucial insight: communication works. Citizens who received recent information from their council or recognised campaigns like Recycle Now, Britain Recycles, or Be Mighty were:
- More confident in what to recycle.
- More likely to recycle correctly and consistently.
- More likely to believe their efforts are worthwhile.
The implementation of Simpler Recycling next year
From 31 March 2026, local authorities will be required to collect the same core materials, giving households a consistent recycling service nationwide. The Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms aim to make recycling easier, reduce confusion and increase recycling rates.
How can we support local authorities with this transition?
To restore confidence and tackle both “missed capture” and contamination, action is needed all-year round - not just during Recycle Week. Here are three priorities:
1. Build functional knowledge.
Citizens are more likely to act when rules are clear, simple, and consistent. Reducing “choice friction” by removing ambiguity makes the desired behaviour the easy, default one. This is where the new Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure it is clearer and consistent for residents wherever you live.
- To support local authorities with this transition, WRAP has launched a Simpler Recycling Toolkit featuring editable assets to explain service changes clearly and consistently, helping residents recycle correctly and with confidence. It also includes key considerations and top tips to help ensure communications are delivered effectively.
Image: Social media assets from Simpler Recycling Toolkit
- So many local authorities used Recycle Now Rescue Me – Recycle Campaign Toolkit during Recycle Week. We encourage local authorities to use the assets all-year round as part of your Simpler Recycling roll out.
- Keep council websites and social channels up to date, especially when waste services change. Read WRAP’s Website Good Practice Guide for tips to maximise engagement.
- Use WRAP’s Tackling Contamination in dry recycling guide to reduce confusion around tricky items.
2. Strengthen motivational knowledge.
Feedback loops are essential. When people see the outcomes of their actions, it reinforces their belief that the effort is worthwhile, boosting long-term motivation.
- Citizens want to know what happens next. Share stories about how local recycling is turned into new products or energy.
- Offer virtual or in-person tours of MRFs and reprocessing facilities to rebuild trust.
- Communicate the positive local impacts - cost savings, jobs supported, carbon reduced, energy saved.
Many local authorities are stepping up their recycling and waste communications and below are some examples.
Images: Communication assets from Cornwall Council, Dorset Council, Shropshire Council and Somerset Council.
3. Onboard and support food waste behaviours
Simpler Recycling will bring food collections to millions more households in England from 2026, but access won’t automatically equal participation. Citizens need onboarding support - practical guidance on managing their food waste, alongside messaging that connects food recycling to tangible outcomes, like generating energy or saving money for local services.
WRAP’s developed a Household Food Waste Collections Communications Guidance and Templates to support local authorities with the implementation of weekly food waste collections and can offer fully funded support to individual councils as they work towards service implementation.
Image: Vehicle livery asset from WRAP’s Household Food Waste Collections Communications Guidance and Templates.
The opportunity ahead
If we act now, we can reverse the decline in confidence and strengthen recycling as a shared social norm. That means:
- National government: leading consistent, timely campaigns that align with reforms like Simpler Recycling and Extended Producer Responsibility.
- Local authorities: providing regular, visible, localised messages - and making recycling the easy, default choice. Use nudges like bin stickers, reminders on caddy liners, and feedback in council newsletters to normalise the behaviour.
- Businesses and producers: simplifying packaging and apply recycling labelling for timely recycling guidance.
Recycle Week showed us what’s possible when we work together. Now we need to carry that spirit forward - embedding circular living into everyday life, so citizens feel confident that recycling is always worth it.
Get in touch
For tailored support, resources, and guidance, contact WRAP’s Local Authority Support Team at la.support@wrap.ngo or visit www.wrap.ngo
Together, we can rebuild confidence, strengthen trust, and make recycling work better - for citizens, councils, and the planet.
Find out how your local authority can apply the insights to effect positive behaviour change in your waste and recycling services, by signing up to our Recycling Tracker webinars here
