A charter that aims to provide the public with a clearer picture of where their recycling ultimately ends up, has been launched by the Resource Association.
It has been backed by the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) executive and also Environment Minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach.
The Minister said: “Everyone knows that recycling their rubbish is the right thing to do, but most people are completely unaware of what happens to their recycling after they put it out for collection.
“This new charter developed by the Resource Association and LARAC provides people with the answers and will hopefully provide an extra incentive for people to recycle more.”
The End Destinations of Recycling Charter is a voluntary initiative that seeks to improve the transparency around the end destination of recyclable materials from the household waste stream.
By providing better information to the public, the aim is to raise awareness and understanding, improve public confidence in the recycling process and increase participation in recycling schemes.
Resource Association chief executive Ray Georgeson said: “The public has shown its support for recycling. Recent reports from Defra and DoE in Northern Ireland (showing recycling rates of 42.5 per cent and 42.8 per cent) demonstrate that we have more than quadrupled household recycling in just over ten years.
“There is, however, a strong appetite for more information about what happens beyond the point of collection and evidence suggests that better understanding could help to maintain and increase this support.”
In a recent YouGov poll commissioned by the Resource Association, 73 per cent of respondents said that they didn’t know the exact location of where the materials they put out for recycling go to, and 65 per cent didn’t know what these materials will be made into.
However, 68 per cent of UK adults said that more information should be available on what happens to recycled materials in terms of their destination and end use, and 32 per cent said they would be more or much more likely to recycle if this information was available.
More information on the charter will be available in the June issue of SCM magazine.
