Recycle Now’s mission is to increase the perception that recycling is worthwhile. At Recycle Now, we know that most UK households are actively recycling, with 90% regularly taking part. However, our research shows that 79% of UK citizens still miss one or more items that could be recycled in their kerbside collection.
The two main barriers preventing more effective recycling are:
- Uncertainty about what can and cannot be recycled – Many people admit they are unsure about which items belong in their recycling bins.
- Doubts about whether recycling is worthwhile – People express scepticism, often due to concerns about what happens to their recycling once collected.
Local authorities can play a crucial role in communicating what happens to recycling after collection and encourage residents to recycle more of the right things, more often.
Join Recycle Now in its mission to rescue some of the most commonly binned items from the rubbish bin and help us to drive positive behaviour change using our key resources and assets.
Have you downloaded our Summer Recycle Now Assets yet?
In this latest suite of Rescue Me – Recycle assets, you will find our lovable characters sharing tips on sustainable garden barbecues and recycling at summer festivals and picnics. The Rescue Me – Recycle assets are easy to download and will help to motivate citizens to think before they throw items in the rubbish bin and recycle them instead.
You can use Recycle Now’s sustainable barbecue blog to share recycling tips on your socials. Or why not share a video of how the recycling process works to inform citizens of what happens to their recycling.
There is also the opportunity to download the Rescue Me - Recycle: Toolkit | WRAP where you will find social media assets, vehicle livery, bin stickers, website banners and digital posters that you can use all year round to encourage residents to recycle one more thing.
Don’t forget to update WRAP’s LA Portal with any changes to your collection services, so its accurate when citizens are searching the Recycling Locator for guidance on how and where to recycle.
Recycle Week 2024: A landmark year
Recycle Week 2024, celebrated its 21st anniversary, and it was a real success, reaching 7.3 million citizens. With 2.9 million people said they changed their recycling habits as a result and the rate of missed capture for the five key recyclables dropped from 70% to 64% - a huge achievement.
During the week, Recycle Now delivered an extensive national and regional PR campaign, driving awareness with a powerful headline: Households waste one billion recyclable items every year.
Our campaign characters—Dee Dee, Fitz, Yogi, Rey, and Hube personifies some of the most commonly binned, yet recyclable household items - aftershave and perfume bottles, plastic trigger spray bottles, yoghurt pots, toilet roll tubes, and aerosols. By giving these objects human traits, emotions, and personalities, we’ve created lovable characters that people can connect with. Through humour and emotion, we highlight the ‘dreams’ of these items to be recycled - and the unfortunate fate they face if they aren’t rescued.
We also launched our ‘Workshop In A Box’ community engagement initiative, bringing education into schools, Cubs, and Brownie groups, engaging an estimated 8,000 young people and encouraging them to be recycling champions at home.
Thank you to all the local authorities that have supported Recycle Week campaigns over the past 21 years. Let’s keep the momentum going and encourage more citizens to rescue at least one more recyclable item.
Remember to Save the date of Recycle Week 2025, taking place 22nd–28th September – we’ll be in touch soon with our partner toolkit.
We’ve also updated the Recycle Now: Materials Stream Icon Guidelines that will help you raise the awareness of the materials that can be recycled and encourage householders to actively participate in their local recycling services.
Together, we can inspire the public to recycle more. Let’s rescue more recycling, one item at a time
