Majority of UK happy with waste collections

The research, entitled Attitudes to Waste and Recycling in Great Britain 2011, found that 78% of respondents were happy with their collection service regardless of how often their waste was collected.

This comes despite communities secretary Eric Pickles’ plans for a 250 million fund to encourage councils to return to, or maintain, a weekly waste collection for at least five years (see letsrecycle.com story).

The report found that 79% of people with food waste collections were satisfied with the service however satisfaction was notably higher when residents received a weekly food waste collection service. Those with fortnightly food waste collections were more concerned about the potential problem of smells, vermin and flies, with 15% stating that they had a serious problem with flies.

As a result, Sauce Consultancy claimed that the 250 million would be best spent in supporting weekly food waste collections.

John Twitchen, managing director of Sauce Consultancy, said: Regular food waste collections, with caddy liners supplied, is probably the best use for Eric Pickles 250 million fund to improve waste collections. Its mess that offends not frequency.

Improvement

The report did flag up some key areas for improvement including residents wanting a higher level of customer service and more information about what happens to their recycling once it is collected. Residents living in flats also stated that a better service is needed with only 69% stating that they were satisfied with their service, compared to 86% of residents living in detached houses.

As a solution to tackling these problems the report stated: Focusing on scheme design in relation to flats, as well as ensuring that food waste collections are working in such a way as to reduce problems, rather than accentuate them, would therefore both appear more pressing priorities than a focus solely on the frequency of rubbish.

Almost two thirds of people agreed that financial rewards for recycling were a good idea, with 17% disagreeing with financial incentives. However 40% of respondents did agree that people should be charged according to the amount of waste they produce.

Considering waste treatment methods, 87% believed anaerobic digestion to be acceptable and 75% thought the same of energy-from-waste (EfW). However, 15% said they disagreed with EfW incineration.

The survey of 2,019 adults took place online between September 2-4 2011.