Simpler Recycling – Improve Recycling and Food Collection Rates

Simpler Recycling means that councils in England must provide a consistent, core set of recycling services so residents can recycle the same key materials wherever they live, reducing confusion and increasing participation.

Behavioural science can help you address the challenges you face in increasing recycling and food waste collection rates, as well as managing service change and introducing new collections.

I work with councils and waste providers to improve recycling and food-waste services, as well as helping you to introduce new services, saving you money, delivering positive change and measuring your impact.

Increasing Recycling And Food Waste Collection Rates

To increase recycling rates, I work with you through a four-step process,

1. Behaviour: first, I help you understand the real behaviours driving low participation or contamination, using existing data and new insight from surveys, focus groups and workshops to prioritise the most important behaviours to change.
2. Barriers: I then identify the key barriers and drivers — such as confusion about what goes in each bin, inconvenient bin layouts, habits, or low motivation.
3. Solve: next, I help you design co-designing practical, testable solutions with your team, from small-scale trials to full-service re-design and campaigns.
4. Test: Finally, I help you measure what works through clear evaluation and live dashboards, ensuring recycling and food-waste interventions are evidence-led, cost-effective and deliver measurable improvements.

Introducing new services

If you are introducing a new service or changing your service e.g. introducing food waste collections, I can help you to

1. Plan for your new service: this includes service planning as well as designing and executing your communications based on behavioural science.
2. Co-design your missed collections and complaints process: I help you to design your services so they minimise complaints and missed collections.
3. Increase food waste and recycling rates: I work with you to rollout service changes that combines behavioural science, service improvements and communications that work and drive changes.
4. Bring residents on the journey with you: I help you identify trusted messengers who residents listen to and channels (e.g. stickers, posters, letters and social media) that drive action.
5. Segment audience: I help you segment your audiences based on living circumstances – e.g. households, communal, flats above shops and more – along with other demographics.
6. Evaluate your work: finally, I work with you to measure the impact of what you do, helping you to save money, increase recycling rates and demonstrate impact.

 

To find out more, please either call me on 01928 242182 or complete a free online enquiry.

Alternatively, download my Campaign Planner below, which shows the steps you need to take to change behaviour for the better.

Download my Free CAMPAIGN PLANNER 

Dominic Ridley-Moy FCIPR, Chart.PR, Dip CIPR
Behaviour Change Network founder

FAQs: Simpler Recycling, Food Waste & Behaviour Change

What is Simpler Recycling?

Simpler Recycling is a policy approach in England that requires councils to provide a consistent core set of recycling collections so residents can recycle the same key materials wherever they live. The aim is to reduce confusion, improve participation, and increase recycling and food waste capture.

What is changing for councils under Simpler Recycling?

Under Simpler Recycling, councils need to ensure residents can recycle a consistent set of materials, supported by clear communication and service design. For many councils this means introducing or expanding food waste collections, improving recycling quality, and updating resident information and operational processes to reduce contamination and missed collections.

Why do recycling rates stay low even when people “care” about recycling?

Because behaviour is not driven by attitudes alone. Recycling participation often drops due to friction (bins not convenient), confusion (what goes where), habits (defaulting to general waste), competing priorities, and weak prompts. The biggest gains usually come from removing barriers and making the “right thing” the easy thing.

What are the most common barriers to recycling and food waste participation?

Common barriers include:

• Confusion about what goes in each container

• Lack of space (especially flats and communal bins)

• Convenience and bin placement issues

• Concerns about smell, mess, or pests (food waste)

• Low trust that materials are actually recycled

• Social norms (nobody else in the block does it)

How do you improve recycling rates using behavioural science?

I use a structured four-step approach:

1. Identify the specific behaviours causing low participation or contamination

2. Diagnose barriers and drivers (capability, opportunity, motivation)

3. Co-design practical solutions with your team (service + comms together)

4. Test what works using clear evaluation and dashboards

What’s the difference between increasing recycling and reducing contamination?

Increasing recycling is about getting more people to use the service and capture more material. Reducing contamination is about improving quality so fewer wrong items end up in recycling or food waste. Many councils need both: participation and quality improvements usually require different interventions.

How do you support councils introducing food waste collections?

Support typically includes service planning, resident journey mapping, message and channel planning, co-designing complaints and missed-collection processes, and testing what works via targeted trials before scaling. The focus is on reducing avoidable contact, preventing confusion, and building early habit formation.

How do you handle different housing types such as flats and communal bins?

Flats and communal settings usually need tailored solutions because “standard” approaches don’t fit the environment. I help you segment by living circumstances (houses, communal blocks, flats above shops, mixed-use) and design interventions that match the practical realities—bin access, signage, caretaker roles, storage space, and trust.

What communications channels work best for recycling and food waste behaviour change?

The best channels depend on the behaviour and setting. In many cases, the highest-performing mix includes on-bin prompts (stickers), simple printed prompts (letters/postcards), building-level signage for flats, targeted digital reminders, and timed nudges aligned to collection days. The goal is to prompt action at the moment decisions are made.

How can councils reduce missed collections and complaints during service change?

You reduce avoidable contact by designing the process around likely failure points: clear expectations, simple “what to do if” guidance, consistent messaging across crews and comms, and fast feedback loops. Co-designing the missed collection and complaints process often reduces contact rates and rebuilds trust quickly.

How do you measure whether recycling and food waste interventions are working?

Measurement should link to service outcomes, not just engagement metrics. Typical measures include participation rate, tonnage/capture rate, contamination rate, set-out rate, call/contact volumes, repeat missed collection reports, and complaint themes. I help set up reporting and dashboards so teams can learn and adjust quickly.

What is a “behaviour change trial” for recycling?

A behaviour change trial is a small-scale test (for example one area, one housing type, or one message variant) designed to identify what improves participation or reduces contamination before rolling out borough-wide. Trials reduce risk, protect budgets, and build evidence for what to scale.

Can behavioural science help even if the issue is operational (not communications)?

Yes. Many recycling problems are operational-behaviour problems: container layout, storage constraints, unclear instructions, weak prompts, confusing exception rules, and inconsistent crew practices. Behavioural science helps you redesign the system so the desired behaviour is easier and more reliable.

Who do you work with on Simpler Recycling projects?

I work with local authorities and waste providers, typically across waste operations, comms, customer services, housing (where relevant), and contractors. The best results come from joining up service design and communications rather than treating them as separate workstreams.

What should a council do first to prepare for Simpler Recycling?

Start by identifying the priority behaviours and settings driving the biggest losses (low participation, high contamination, or high avoidable contact). Then map barriers by segment (houses vs flats/communal), align operational readiness, and design a phased communications and engagement plan that supports the service change.