Problem
Swansea Council’s recycling performance increased steadily from 45.2% in 2011/12 to a peak of 63.7% in 2016/17, before dropping to 62.9% by 2018/19. A new strategy to meet the national statutory target of 64% by 2019/20 was needed.
Initially, the Council focused on making recycling easier for residents, but data suggested that a segment of the population continued to choose not to sort and recycle their waste despite knowing how to do so.
To address this, Swansea Council evaluated four potential strategies to improve recycling rates:
- Increased education, improved communication, and stricter enforcement.
- A limit of two black bags of non-recyclable waste per household.
- Changing to three- or four-weekly residual waste collections.
- A prohibition of recyclable materials in black bags left for kerbside collection.
The Council opted for the prohibition of recyclables from black bags as this strategy would directly target non-recyclers, whilst minimising the impact on households already recycling effectively.
Solution
Swansea Council’s approach focused on targeted enforcement and education, ensuring fair treatment of compliant recyclers whilst addressing habitual non-recyclers. A structured four-stage education and enforcement process was introduced, offering guidance before taking punitive measures.
- Pre-collection on-the-street checks: Six teams of two officers conducted inspections to identify non-compliant households. They carried out visual checks of black bags presented for collection by residents, to identify any recyclables, such as food waste, metal cans and tins, or plastic bottles.
- Initial educational outreach: Households found to be putting recyclables in black bags were visited by Council officers and given a letter with information about proper recycling practices.
- Follow-up monitoring: Households that continued to dispose of recyclables materials incorrectly were issued an enforcement notice letter, whilst those demonstrating improvement received a thank you letter.
- Final enforcement stage: After a third round of checks, persistent non-compliance resulted in the issue of final warning letters followed by fixed penalty notices, if necessary, during a fourth round of checks.
Impact
The initiative delivered measurable environmental and financial benefits within the first round of enforcement in 2019, whilst reinforcing positive behavioural changes:
- Recycling rate increase: Swansea Council’s recycling rate improved by 2.1% that year to reach 65% in 2019/20, exceeding the 64% statutory target. Its recycling rate continued to improve and reached 70.4% in 2023/24.
- Waste diversion success: Nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste were diverted from landfill within the first 12 months.
- Cost savings: Significant reductions in residual disposal costs improved overall waste management efficiency.
Overall, this approach prioritised behavioural change over punishment. The approach was not on issuing fines, but on ensuring all residents contributed to the county’s recycling efforts. Unlike increased restrictions on non-recyclable waste collections, this policy did not negatively impact households already recycling correctly. By making recycling the default behaviour, Swansea Council ensured that all residents played a part in reducing residual waste and improving sustainability.