Cash strapped local authorities have had to look long and hard at waste and recycling provision as high-profile services compete for shrinking budgets. To save money, some councils have had to take steps to limit the services they offer at HWRCs, reducing opening hours and even closing sites.
Yet following the BBC’s Blue Planet II, interest in recycling has never been higher and consumers and policy-makers are truly engaged in the recycling story for the first time in a long time. According to polling from FCC Environment and YouGov shows residents prize both kerbside and HWRC provision, so I pose this question: are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
With Defra due to publish its Waste and Resource strategy shortly after the chancellor’s Budget statement in November, the polling shows that HWRCs truly are the front line for recycling for the majority of people, and reducing services further could significantly affect recycling rates at a time when the Circular Economy package is determining ever higher targets.
The YouGov poll of 2,000 UK adults showed that:
- Recycling and rubbish services follow only social services, emergency services and education in people’s priority lists for council spending.
- Spending on HWRCs is more important than recycling collections and even street lighting.
- Almost a quarter of people visit their HWRC at least every month, and 64% have used their local HWRC in the last year.
- A third of people want to be able to recycle more items and would like their HWRCs to be achieving higher overall recycling rates.
- One in three said it was important that HWRCs remained free to use and had longer opening hours.
The survey also highlighted the postcode lottery of HWRC provision, with some people saying their local HWRC was “excellent” or “efficient” while others reported a long wish list calling for:
- A charity repair and re-use shop
- Accepting a wider range of materials
- Better accessibility for people without cars
- Longer opening hours
- Reduced restrictions on vehicle size
- More HWRCs (and fewer site closures) to reduce queueing time
It’s clear to see that how a council manages its HWRCs has a wide-ranging impact on the community, whether that’s encouraging more recycling, or supporting local charities with repair and upcycling schemes. At FCC Environment, we run 96 HWRCs for 24 local authorities around the country, and have focused on improving HWRC service with novel tactics such as resident permits and popular re-use shops.
This polling shows clearly that residents not only value HWRCs, but that they view them as valuable community assets. Residents have increasingly high expectations when it comes to recycling and re-use at HWRCs, so let’s harness that enthusiasm and put residents at the heart of developing these resources.
