Behaviour Change and Recycling Contamination
Channel: be Waste Wise
Date: 2020-07-20

Recycling performance is a factor of what materials are targeted for collection, the level of public engagement and understanding, the frequency of residential participation, the quality of their participation, and the effectiveness of the sorting process at the kerb and at the MRF (materials recycling facility). But contamination can undermine any recycling service, making it more expensive to sort the materials, confusing residents about what materials to sort and store at home, and ultimately putting end market outlets at risk. 

This webinar discusses common contaminants in recycling collections from a number of residential settings (suburbia, high-rise and rural), reflect on campaigns and programmes that have attempted to limit contamination, and consider what the future might look like under reforms to extended producer responsibility and the expected upturn in brand-led recycling-based communications.