More People Committed to Recycle
- 8.5 million more people are ‘committed’ recyclers
- 25.5 million people in England now committed to recycling
More than six out of every ten people (61% or 25.5 million) people in England are now committed recyclers1, according to new research2 revealed today by Recycle Now, the national recycling campaign for England.
The new figures mean that 16% more people (8.5 million) are now committed recyclers compared to when the Recycle Now campaign was launched in England by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) in September 2004, when the number of committed recyclers stood at 45%. This shows that more people understand the importance of recycling and are making the effort to recycle as much as they can.
Liz Goodwin, WRAP’s Chief Executive, said:“Our results clearly show that we are making positive progress when it comes to recycling. More people now understand how important it is and are actively recycling on a regular basis.
“Over 80% (81%) of those surveyed said it was convenient for them to recycle. The increase in the availability of services to enable people to recycle more easily has been a key factor in driving this growth in commitment.”
In addition, the research also found that:
- over nine out of ten (94%) people regard recycling as ‘important’;
- more than eight out of ten (85%) state they now recycle a lot or everything – compared to 65% when the campaign launched; and
- the number of people who say they do not recycle has reduced by nearly two thirds - from 13% to 5%.
1 Committed recyclers are people who state that:
- recycling is either “very” or “fairly” important to them
- they “recycle even if it requires additional effort”
- they recycle “everything that can be recycled or “a lot but not everything that can be recycled”
Editor's notes:
- Recycle Now – Launched by Sir Matthew Pinsent in September 2004, Recycle Now is the multi-media national recycling campaign, implemented and managed by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) on behalf of Government. The aim of the campaign is to encourage more people to recycle more stuff, more often.
- WRAP works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle more things more often. This help to minimize landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve out environment.
- Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
- More information on all of WRAP’s programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk and for more details on the Recycle Now campaign visit www.recyclenow.com.
