Public mistrust and misconceptions about the recycling process in the UK pose a barrier to boosting capture rates, according to Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE).
According to the drinks giant, a consistent message to promote recycling is therefore needed, but the many differing household collection systems operated by UK local authorities makes this difficult.
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Presenting its Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Report 2013/14 in London yesterday (June 5), the company highlighted various projects it has worked on to encourage recycling over the last year, finding there is a big opportunity to demonstrate what happens to packaging once it has been recycled.
CCE projects in the UK included a Defra-funded trial community project with Milton Keynes council to learn more about why residents do or do not recycle, with community organisations offered incentives of up to 1,500 to collect recycling pledges from residents (see letsrecycle.com story).
In addition, the drinks giant has worked closely with supermarkets such as Tesco to promote recycling (see letsrecycle.com story), and also teamed up with the University of Exeter to publish research in March which found that many householders do not have an accurate understanding of recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
Launching the annual report, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability at CCE Joe Francis said these projects had shown that there was a misunderstanding of the recycling process and that public awareness needed boosting.
‘there is a bit of mistrust and some misconceptions about what happens to materials once it leaves your recycling bin. There is a huge opportunity to really tell that story in a much more powerful way.’
Joe Francis, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability at CCE
He said: There is a real lack of understanding about what recycled things become. With that misunderstanding there is a bit of mistrust and some misconceptions about what happens to materials once it leaves your recycling bin. There is a huge opportunity to really tell that story in a much more powerful way.
Message
Also speaking at yesterdays report launch, associate director for recycling at CCE Nick Brown said that through its partnerships with supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsburys and ASDA, Coca-Cola had reached around 22 million people with its recycling messages.
However, he said: What we have found is that it is very difficult to come up with a consistent message for recycling when there are just so many different local authority collection systems.
The CCE report comes during a week of media coverage surrounding public understanding of recycling, with DCLG minister Brandon Lewis appearing to be unclear himself of which materials were recyclable in his constituency home when on BBC Breakfast television on Tuesday (June 3).
And, recycler ECO Plastics yesterday (June 4) called for a fraction of the future 5p plastic carrier bag charge revenue to be spent on a nationwide public awareness campaign to boost recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, CCEs Nick Brown said: I would love some more joined-up thinking in campaigns. The bag levy, PRNs and many other areas are opportunities where we can use money that is already there to target boosting recycling awareness.
Lightweighting
As well as highlighting CCEs recycling campaigns, the report revealed that the company had reduced the weight of its 500ml PET bottles from 24.7 grams to 21.7 grams in 2013, with plans to reduce the weight further to 19.9 grams this year.
The report states: In addition, we have reduced the weight of our large PET bottles by introducing lighter, shorter closures for sparkling brands and have also lightweighted our can ends. In 2014, we plan to further reduce our large 1.3 litre; 1.75 litre and 2 litre PET packs from 41.7g to 40.3g and to develop the next generation of lightweight closures.
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