The Simpler Recycling legislation in England has standardised what materials are collected across England, requiring all local authorities and businesses to offer consistent recycling collections for the same core materials.
Already in force for businesses with 10 or more employees since 31 March 2025, it was extended to all households on 31 March 2026 and smaller businesses by 31 March 2027. Although legislation can change the service, it cannot always change how people behave. Sometimes changes like this are enough, but not always.
And if this means recycling performance stalls, the response is often predictable: improve the service, run a communications campaign and invest in better infrastructure. As Simpler Recycling rolls out, many organisations will default to exactly these solutions. But the danger is that they can often happen in a disjointed, siloed way. And they miss a crucial element, an understanding of how people actually behave.
Behavioural thinking helps bring service design, communications, and infrastructure together into a single, coherent approach. Unless recycling services are designed around real-world behaviour and how the brain works, their impact will always be limited.
One of the most widely used behavioural frameworks today, COM-B developed by UCL, provides a practical way of understanding why people behave as they do and what needs to be in place for behaviour to change.
At its core, COM-B says that for any behaviour to happen, three conditions must be met: people must understand what to do and how, the service and environment should make it easy, and the behaviour must feel worthwhile, normal and habitual.
If any one of these is missing, recycling behaviour will be inconsistent at best.
Recycling performance isn’t driven by a single factor; it is the combined outcome of system design, service delivery and communication. A behavioural lens isn’t the answer to everything, but it helps to bring these together.
If you would like to speak with me about tackling recycling and food waste issues, please either call me on 01928 242182 or complete a Free Online Enquiry for a no obligation discussion. You can also book a free Better Recycling Planning Call.
Here are five ways to achieve positive behaviour change whilst saving money:
1. Define the behaviour before designing the solution
Recycling strategies often begin with solutions: more bins, a new campaign, additional collections. What is frequently missing is a clear definition of the specific behaviours that need to change and the barriers that prevent them.
In practice, improving recycling usually depends on multiple small behaviours, not one big one. These include behaviours such as separating food waste, rinsing containers, taking recycling to the correct bin store, using the nearest recycling bin rather than the nearest bin, or dealing with waste correctly when moving home.
Starting with a long list of all the behaviours that underpin recycling performance is critical. It allows teams to identify which behaviours matter most, which are already happening, and which are being blocked by the system. Only then can they be prioritised and addressed.
2. Design for real-world conditions, not ideal behaviour
Once behaviours are clearly defined, the next step is to understand the conditions in which people are expected to perform them. Recycling services are often designed on the assumption that people act logically and rationally. In reality, most decisions are made quickly, guided by habit, convenience and emotion, often under time pressure.
Identifying what is happening at the moment people decide what to do with their waste is key. This includes identifying friction such as unclear instructions, inconsistent messages, dirty or overflowing communal bins, long walking distances, or unreliable collections.
If the system makes the right behaviour difficult or unpleasant, motivation becomes irrelevant. Designing for real-world conditions means removing friction before attempting persuasion.
3. Join up communications with service improvements
One of the most common reasons recycling interventions fail is that service changes and communications are developed separately. Communications teams are asked to “drive behaviour change” without service changes, while operational changes are introduced on the assumption that residents will simply adapt.
In reality, neither works well on its own. Telling residents to recycle more has a limited impact if the service is inconvenient, unreliable or confusing. Equally, a well-designed service will underperform if people do not understand what has changed or why.
4. Use social norms carefully and credibly
When services and communications are aligned, social norms can strengthen behaviour change, but only when used carefully. Social norms are the unwritten rules that guide how people are expected to behave. When a behaviour feels normal, visible and routine, people are more likely to follow it.
These principles work when they are believable and locally relevant, focusing on what people can see around them: behaviour in their block, their street, or their estate. A generic statistic from a faceless organisation about improved recycling rates, on the other hand, is unlikely to work.
5. Treat recycling improvement as a continuous system: test, learn and adapt
Even when everything is joined up, recycling performance will not necessarily improve. Behaviour change is not a one-off event; it is the outcome of a system that adapts over time.
Too often, changes are implemented, messages are sent, and results are reviewed weeks or months later at a borough-wide level. By then, it is difficult to understand what actually worked or why. A behavioural approach helps introduce a continuous approach to change at a manageable scale by observing how people respond and continually tweaking the solution to changing circumstances.
Conclusion
Simpler Recycling legislation in the UK will change what is collected. It will not, on its own, change how people behave. Improving recycling performance is not simply a question of more infrastructure or more communication. It is about designing services that work with human behaviour rather than against it.
If the reforms are to deliver their full potential, behaviour change must be treated as a core part of service design, not an afterthought.
Can I Help You To Encourage Your Residents To Recycle More
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FAQs
What is the simpler recycling legislation in the UK?
Simpler recycling legislation is a UK policy designed to standardise recycling collections across councils. It aims to make recycling easier for residents by ensuring more consistent materials, collections, and guidance.
Why is simpler recycling being introduced?
It is being introduced to reduce confusion, increase recycling rates, and improve the quality of recycled materials. Inconsistent systems across councils have historically made it harder for residents to recycle correctly.
Will simpler recycling increase recycling rates?
It can improve recycling rates, but only if combined with behaviour change. Standardisation alone is not enough. Residents still need clear communication, convenient services, and motivation to change habits. You need all three elements for successful behaviour change.
What are the biggest challenges with simpler recycling?
The biggest challenges include resident confusion during transition, service changes that disrupt habits, and the risk of assuming people will automatically adapt without support or communication.
How can councils prepare for simpler recycling?
Councils should review current services, identify likely behaviour barriers, test communications early, and ensure service design and messaging are aligned before changes are introduced.
What role does behaviour change play in simpler recycling?
Behaviour change is critical. It helps ensure residents understand what to do, feel motivated to do it, and are able to act easily within the system provided.
How can communication campaigns support simpler recycling?
Campaigns can clarify what has changed, reduce confusion, and reinforce correct behaviours. The most effective campaigns are simple, consistent, and based on real user understanding.
What mistakes should be avoided when implementing recycling changes?
Common mistakes include overloading residents with information, using unclear messaging, ignoring behavioural barriers, and failing to test interventions before full rollout.
How can the impact of simpler recycling be measured?
Impact can be measured through recycling rates, contamination levels, participation rates, and cost savings. Ongoing monitoring helps identify what is working and where adjustments are needed.