Communications are ‘fundamental’ to recycling: WRAP

Communications are a fundamental part of a waste and recycling service for councils, according to Louise Bowe, head of community partnerships at WRAP(Watford Recycling Arts Project).

The comments came in a presentation on behaviour change at the LARAC Conference and Awards, which took place in Nottingham last week (October 17). The session also saw presentations by Diana Caldwell, marketing and communications manager at the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) and David Hall, executive director of Behaviour Change.

Speaking to the local authority recycling officers, Ms Bowe said achieving high quality and quantities of recycling will not happen unless effective communications are in place to back it up.

She said: “It [communications] really is fundamental. It is not just a fluffy add on. Quality and quantity of recyclables and residents using their services properly is not going to happen if you don’t communicate effectively.”

England has made great progress with recycling rates increasing from 18% to 43% over the last decade, Ms Bowe commented. “Significant” service improvements have helped this but she said it had been supported by investment in national and regional communication campaigns.

She explained: “It is not just communications of course. The services on the ground for the public have changed dramatically over that period [ten years] but the investment in new services needs to be complemented by communications.”

Ms Bowe added that communicating with residents on recycling services is “more important than it has ever been” especially with the bad publicity the industry has faced in recent years.

Discussing the impact of this, in particular stories negative stories in the press, Ms Bowe said: “Things like this haven’t helped and they have dented the public’s confidence and undermined our credibility over what we do. However, it hasn’t had as much of an impact on the public confidence as some in the industry think it has.”