A step change in household recycling
Improving the way we collect and recycle waste materials
Bringing together local authorities, the waste management industry and retailers to increase the quantity and quality of material collected for recycling.
Change is needed to improve the way we collect and recycle waste materials.
As part of the Circular Economy package, the UK needs to achieve a 65% municipal recycling rate by 2035. By working together, organisations working in the sector can contribute to the delivery of these national targets for waste recycling, fulfilling our UK and international responsibilities to the environment.
We can make a difference, by making collection and recycling services more effective and improve the quantity and quality of recycled materials.
Working with government to transform the landscape
The UK Government's Resources and Waste Strategy, published in December 2018, offers some bold and radical solutions that could transform the landscape for the way we manage resources and waste in the future. These include:
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging (anticipated to be effective from 2023)
- Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and consistent municipal recycling collections (set to be introduced from 2023)
- Taxes on plastics packaging with low levels of recycled content (scheduled for April 2022)
We can help local authorities, waste management companies and reprocessors to get ready to comply with the expected legislation on the collection of core materials - dry and food waste. And we can help retailers and manufacturers to deliver materials of a suitable quality to be reprocessed.
We can help you prepare now for the changes to come in collections and recycling requirements.
Find out more about our one-to-one support
Working together to achieve greater consistency
An industry solution for a complex challenge
Recycling has become an everyday activity for many households but we now need to build on this progress and make it easier for households to recycle more.
Benefits of greater consistency
By making it more effective for councils and others to provide services, and improve the quantity and quality of materials, we can work together to bring about a step change in recycling rates and fully realise the value of recycled materials. Greater consistency can contribute to this and bring a number of key benefits nationally.
Local authorities have made great progress in recycling in recent years. However services and performance vary across England. Through the delivery of greater consistency in recycling, there are opportunities to realise further significant benefits including:
- Achieving increased recycling
- Reducing contamination
- Building partnerships
- Building a better recycling community
- Benefitting financially.
Change is happening now
Explore our case studies which illustrate the benefits of consistency in household recycling collections for local authorities and in plastic packaging manufacturing.
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Consistency: Assessing the cost and performance of waste collection scenarios
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Consistency: Reviewing the cost, performance and legal compliance of household waste & recycling services
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Consistency: Performance and costs of collection schemes
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Consistency: Assessing costs and performance of different collections scenarios
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Greater consistency in household recycling in England: A framework
Preventing contamination
Understand why collecting all core materials in a multi-stream system is the most effective and what the financial benefits and positive impact on material quality could be.
Find out more