Sarah Elliott

We continue our National Apprenticeship Week celebration of our graduates’ dissertations with this examination of co-production in recycling services.

This research examines the motivations and barriers for citizens which can influence the decision to contribute positively in recycling services. The study links participation in recycling services with concern and awareness of environmental issues, and highlights the potential negative impact of a lack of knowledge and understanding of the services provided.

Effective recycling services require a combination of efforts from both service users and service providers.  Recipients of the services are required to separate their materials and present them for collection as required.  There is significant variation in the quantity and quality of participation in recycling services.  One council found 65% of residual waste could have been recycled at the kerbside, losing potential income; and contamination rates of 35% in recycling bins increase costs.

By examining the understanding and experiences of recycling services by residents the data collected in the research shows how to influence greater collaboration and engagement.

Key points

• Understanding residents’ motivations in recycling, and their experience of the service provided, can support co-production efforts.
• Clarity and trust are key to success.  Citizens need to know how to participate, how to recycle different materials, and that the council is processing the material they submit responsibly.
  
  
• Clearly information and communication, using the website and perhaps a dedicated app, can help residents feel confident to participate in recycling.
  
  
• The report suggests three key actions for councils which want to improve the effectiveness of recycling in their area.

Background

Formalisation of requirements for waste collection authorities to collect recyclable waste separately from other waste came into force through the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003.  The separation of recyclable materials from municipal waste streams minimises the amount of waste being sent to landfill or incineration, reducing the impact of escalating disposal costs whilst helping to protect natural resources.  The nature of these services requires a positive coproductive effort from its recipients to ensure that the correct materials are deposited in the correct containers and presented on the day of collection.

The first part of this research therefore involved an online survey which was available for all residents of the city to access via the survey web platform on the council’s website and via the Council Recycling Club.  Following the online survey five semi structured interviews were held with volunteer recipients of the recycling services to gain better understanding and clarity of individuals perceptions of the service.

What we knew already

Several complex factors have been identified as influencing an individual’s ability and willingness to engage positively in coproductive services. These include considerations around the personal and social perceptions, competencies, concerns and motivations of citizens operating in conjunction with a variety of socioeconomic variables.  Citizens’ perceptions include whether the service requiring coproduction is important enough to consider putting in the required effort, and the personal and social importance they put on it – for example, are the environmental benefits and cost savings resulting from effective recycling worth the effort?

The design of recycling services is important as participation may be directly linked to the amount of effort required to do so. More complicated systems may suffer lower participation where residents consider the effort to contribute outweighs the perceived benefits of doing so. 

The issue of political efficacy also arises.  A citizen’s trust in the organisation providing the service influences the likelihood of them displaying positive coproductive behaviour, for example stories of recycling materials ending up in landfill sites across the world can lead to mistrust and reduce participation in services where recipients lose confidence that their efforts are worthwhile.   The development of mutual relationships between the recipients of services and service providers are a means of addressing the distrust between political institutions and citizens.

Levels of environmental concern and involvement in recycling vary by age, gender, social class and residence.  Participation in recycling services can be linked to the level of knowledge that citizens have about the services provided and the quality of these services.   The use of social media platforms such as Apps, Facebook and Twitter offer opportunities for organisations and citizens to share and gather information, including ‘nudging’ citizens to pro-environmental actions.

Theme 1: Motivation

Environmental considerations are a significant incentive for citizens in the positive coproduction of recycling services.  The most common reasons by survey respondents on why they recycle was to reduce waste going to landfill, a sense that it’s the ‘right thing to do’, to preserve natural resources and to tackle climate change.  When asked to identify the reasons why they might not always recycle the most common responses were that the service is too complicated (37%) and that they did not always produce appropriate waste (35%).  Regarding ease of use of the current system, 97% felt it was easy or very easy to use the recycling bin service.  Interestingly, only 1% of responses suggested that a cash incentive or reward would make them recycle more.

Theme 2: Clarity and trust

Confusion over how to participate positively in the services provided, alongside a lack of confidence that recyclable materials are being processed responsibly act to demotivate citizens when deciding if the effort required to positively participate outweighs the perceived benefits of doing so.

Some residents appear to be put off recycling because they think the system is too complicated, for example they don’t know which items can be recycled.  One interviewee commented, “I’m not sure if some things are recyclable or not. I want to recycle everything I can but find myself putting things in the green bin because I am not sure”.

The survey also found concerns about whether council can be trusted to recycle effectively.  One interviewee highlighted the concern as follows: “It would be good to know what happens to the recycled material and that it is being effectively recycled. Documentaries have shown that it ends up dumped in underdeveloped countries which are unable to process the waste, it’s a massive deception.”

One in eight items participants said they put in the recycling bins items which are outside the scope of the scheme.  Although participants mainly correctly identified types of waste suitable for recycling in the service, common errors were including plastic bags, glass other than bottles/jars, and hard plastics.  When unsure whether an item was admissible to recycle, 62% of participants would put it in the waste bin and 18% in the recycling bin.

Theme 3: Information

A lack of knowledge can lead to negative coproduction even from those people that identify themselves as regular recyclers.  In order to identify how people currently access information about the Council recycling services and to identify other communication methods that may be helpful participants were asked to identify what would help them recycle more.  The most frequently occurring response given by those answering this question identified that an app that confirms what can and can’t be recycled would help them to recycle more.   One respondent commented that “I would recycle more if I was sure exactly what items I can recycle, we should be utilising more technology to enable recycling and make it easier to access information”.

Through the development of better and clearer information on these topics, councils can provide recyclers with increased confidence that they are “doing the right thing” and increase the coproductive capacity of participants in the recycling services. 

Conclusions

Environmental concerns such as tackling climate change and preserving natural resources identified as a primary motivator for residents.  However, there can be a lack of clarity amongst recyclers around the requirements of the service.

A lack of trust from some recyclers that materials “may not end up being recycled effectively” can negatively impact on their decision to engage fully in the services where they feel that the effort required to participate outweighs the perceived benefits of doing so. Through better and clearer information on these topics councils can provide recyclers with increased confidence that they are “doing the right thing” and increase the coproductive capacity of participants in the recycling services.  This can be further enabled through the development of more technologically enabled relationships with citizens, giving them access to digital platforms such as a recycling App which can  provide easy and accessible  guidance and information about recycling services.

To increase co-production in recycling services, council should:

• Review existing information available to residents on the council’s website to ensure that it is easy to access and clear, and analyse how this information is being accessed.
• Consider an App that residents can use to have easy, clear and up to date information about the recycling services including information about which materials can be accepted.
• Develop a communications campaign to share information with residents about the environmental and financial benefits of recycling and highlighting the problems of contamination in the recycling bins.

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About the project

This research was a Master’s dissertation as part of the MSc in Public Management and Leadership, completed by Sarah Elliott, supervised by Dr Louise Reardon. 

For further information

Please contact the Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV)
Jason Lowther, at [email protected]