Huge Success For City Recycling Scheme
Trial project in city centre will now continue indefinitely
Colourful new bins, 100 local organisations and a thought-provoking art installation have helped create a culture of on-the-go recycling in Swansea, significantly boosting the quality and quantity of materials recycled across the city centre during a 6-month trial of the Swansea #InTheLoop project.
The initiative was launched by environmental charity Hubbub, in partnership with Swansea City Council in September 2019 and involved introducing 119 bright and easy to use recycling points across Swansea city centre and encouraging the public to use them through engaging communications. The scheme also introduced coffee cup recycling for the first time in Wales.
The results revealed today show that an estimated 75,000 plastic bottles, 12,000 glass bottles, 40,000 cans and 20,000 coffee cups were collected and recycled during the trial period –a total of 147,000 items. The project increased the amount of target materials (the items they were aiming to collect) by 89% and saw a 30% decrease in contamination of recycling bins (anything that shouldn’t be there, e.g. plastic wrappers).
Iconic central locations such as Swansea market and Swansea railway station introduced new recycling systems for the first time. Meanwhile, The Wave – an eye-catching installation visualising the amount of recyclable materials that go to waste every 20 seconds in the UK, appeared in key locations around the city, inspiring the public to do the right thing and save valuable materials from going to waste.
The lessons learnt from the trial in Swansea, along with similar trials in Edinburgh and Leeds and upcoming trials in a town in the midlands and London, will contribute to the development of a blueprint for other local authorities to benefit from.
#InTheLoop, which is the UK’s biggest collaborative approach to boost recycling on-the-go, is being backed by a coalition of funders representing some of the biggest UK on-the-go and high street retailers.
The funders for Swansea were Starbucks, Ecosurety, Asda, Bunzl, Caffè Nero, Coca-Cola GB, Costa Coffee, Danone - owners of the evian and Volvic brands, Highland Spring Group, Innocent Drinks, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Marks & Spencer, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Pret a Manger and Shell.
Although the trial is over, the initiative continues to be supported by local partners, who collaboratively have made the initiative possible.
As well as Swansea City Council, these include the Environment Centre, Swansea University and Keep Wales Tidy – pioneers of the Love Wales recycling initiative.
The Environment Centre has recently attained a grant fund from the Landfill Disposals Tax Communities Scheme to build on the initiative by adding more recycling points across the city centre, but also - based on feedback received during the campaign – using the brand as a platform to focus on the value of reuse and repair.
Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and Director of Hubbub, said: “It’s fantastic to see how the people of Swansea have embraced on-the-go recycling and the eye-catching bins have worked really well.
"The success of the Swansea #InTheLoop campaign is the result of a true collaborative effort. #InTheLoop aims to leave a legacy so the system remains in place after the trial has finished and thanks to the brilliant efforts and commitment of Swansea City Council and its partners, on-the-go recycling will continue in Swansea ensuring that residents can easily recycle when they are out and about in the city centre.”
Cllr Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure Management at Swansea Council, said: “I am really pleased to see the positive outcomes of Swansea #InTheLoop, the increase in recycling rates and the raised awareness of Swansea residents on the importance of recycling.
"The campaign successfully captured the imagination of the public and secured the support of many of our local businesses. Swansea City Council will maintain and build on the scheme in the future.”,
Rhian Corcoran, Manager of the Environment Centre, Swansea said: “We’re thrilled to have taken an active part in the delivery team of this campaign, and saw firsthand how the new bin labels and key messages from the campaign resulted in positive behaviour change.
"The public clearly wants to recycle properly and the consistent, clear messages support this. The insights gained during the campaign is helping us develop current initiatives supporting community recycling, repair and reuse, and will help other councils on their recycling on-the-go journey. It’s rewarding to be part of such a positive and collaborative project that inspires ongoing action.”