OPINION: According to industry estimates, more than 650,000 aerosols are sold in the UK every year. Of this volume, 80% are consumed inside the home – with a high proportion dispensed and discarded specifically in the bathroom. Indeed, from hairsprays and deodorants, to shaving creams, dry shampoos, texturisers, disinfectants, air fresheners, cleaners and stain removers, our beauty regimes rely heavily on sprays.
While consumers are said to be more conscious of best practice recycling behaviours than ever before, most aerosols consumed in the bathroom are still placed in a single pedal bin and ultimately disposed of in the general waste stream. As a result, a meagre 50% of aerosols are recycled through kerbside collections, far lower than the UK’s 68% overall recycling rate for all aluminium packaging.
Indeed, data from WRAP suggests that aerosols are one of the most widely mis-disposed packaging formats, despite a reported 96% of councils providing suitable kerbside infrastructure to effectively capture them. Whether a knowledge gap, lack of confidence, or high levels of confusion, large quantities of valuable materials are lost in black bag collections.
However, it’s not just aerosols that fall foul of the bathroom disposal conundrum. From personal care products and toilet roll tubes, to empty shampoo bottles and hand soap dispensers, insight suggests that the vast majority of all packaging used in the bathroom ends up in general waste.
The wasteful truth
Interestingly, the biggest barrier to best practice bathroom recycling seems to be habitual behaviour. Unlike in the kitchen (where most packaging is opened, used and separated for recycling), the short walk up the stairs sees our processes change quickly.
Rather than having the luxury of placing items directly into a recycling caddy, or taking them outside and separating for kerbside collection, the location of consumption puts a clear block in the process. As a result, householders revert to simply binning packaging, rather than thinking carefully about how best to recycle it.
As the bathroom bin fills up, perfectly recyclable material is often joined by contaminants such as sanitary products, soiled packaging and other residue. Once full, the bin liner is simply removed, tied and taken downstairs. By this point, best practice recycling has been replaced by hygienic disposal and the bag is simply landfilled alongside other black bag waste.
A simple solution?
While education and awareness initiatives are essential to encourage positive behavioural change, there’s no escaping the fact that householders are unlikely to take single items out of the bathroom. Think of the scenarios faced – if you finish a shampoo bottle, personal care product or aerosol, you’re typically in a rush to get ready for work. Disposal in a bathroom bin is faster and easier.
It’s also important to consider that, despite good intentions, consumers are equally as unlikely to separate recyclable items from their pedal bins once full. Psychologically, it becomes an unhygienic process.
So, what’s the solution? Surely there must be a simple way to encourage consumers to separate their used packaging for recycling in the bathroom. Well, one possible approach could be using a split bin. This would be an effective way to replicate best practice waste management behaviour and provide a reliable solution to separate recyclable materials from general waste.
Granted, the market isn’t flooded with bathroom recycling bins, but we found a number of products that would be ideal for this exact application. We even found a 5L split recycling bin for less than £10 with fast delivery – the perfect solution for savvy householders.
By using a split bin, two-tier bin, or twin pedal bins, it would be possible to capture an important tonnage of perfectly recyclable material every year – such as aerosols – with minimal disruption to daily routines. It’s a quick and robust way to overcome habitual behavioural barriers.
Separating at source would allow householders to better segregate streams, which would improve overall capture volumes and directly increase recycling rates in result.
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