Waste not want not - States Assembly

Recommendation 17:
WRAP should take forward two measures to
increase recycling and composting through
the provision of advice to local authorities
on kerbside collection infrastructure and
support for the expansion of markets in
recyclable materials.
Priority 3: improving the
information and advice
available to households and
industry
Households: what’s needed?
1. a national programme to raise public
awareness of waste issues, building on the
‘Rethink Rubbish’ brand used by NWAI; and
2. a series of issue-specific programmes to support
the related programme activity in waste
minimisation and kerbside recycling at local
level (set out in recommendations 16 and 17).
7.17 Good practice from other countries
indicates a significant level of spend per capita
on waste awareness would offer good value for
money in support of government objectives for
waste. For example, Canada spends the
equivalent of about 45 pence per household per
year. A well-designed campaign is estimated to
cost £30m over 3 years.
7.14 The level of awareness of waste in the UK
is very low. As noted in Chapter 4, a recent
MORI survey found that only 7% of
respondents saw waste as a key environmental
issue unless prompted. However, 94% said they
were concerned about the disposal of society’s
waste. 126 It also demonstrated that there were
many misconceptions about waste, and that if
the facts were explained to them, people would
be more receptive to various waste measures
that they would not intuitively accept.
7.15 Many national campaigns have already
been led by the National Waste Awareness
Initiative (NWAI). However, awareness of waste
remains low so it is not clear that a further
large-scale generic campaign would in itself be
effective. There is a stronger case for continuing
education and awareness through more
targeted and focused practical messages in
parallel with the roll-out of specific schemes and
programmes.
7.16 To support the strategy recommended in
this report and to tackle awareness and
attitudes – one of the key identifiable barriers
set out in chapter 4 – it is recommended that
two measures are taken forward:
126
MORI research report for SU: www.strategy.gov.uk/2002/waste/downloads/mori.pdf
127
WRAP Delivery Plans, 11 October 2002
Households: what could it achieve?
7.18 It is difficult to assess the direct impact of
educational programmes, as the effects are
generally combined with other policy changes.
For example, the WasteWatch campaign to
promote garden waste collection raised
recycling rates by up to 10% and the Rethink
Rubbish road show increased paper recycling by
9%. In order to achieve maximum impact, each
education/awareness activity will need to ensure
that: 127
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key audiences are identified and clearly
understood;
messages are clearly defined, taking account
of lessons from past awareness programmes;
and
monitoring and evaluation of impacts is
comprehensive and sustained with
appropriate feedback to programme design.
Recommendation 18:
WRAP should promote education and
awareness of waste issues through a
programme of national and targeted local
or issue-specific campaigns related to waste
minimisation and recycling.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT MEASURES
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