Is recycling just a waste of time? British households are so confused about which bin to use that they are being forced to ‘wish cycle’ – putting packaging in it and hoping for the best, research shows

It’s the question plaguing homes across the country: Which bin does this go in?

Now researchers have found that widespread confusion is forcing British households to ‘wishcycle’ – throwing packaging into recycling bins and hoping for the best.

A series of reports on recycling published by a team at Lancaster University show that uncertainty over product labels and different recycling facilities across the country means many are getting it wrong.

A total of 552 people and 91 organizations were involved in the research, which included interviews with households and companies in the supply chain, as well as visits to waste management facilities.

They found that people tend to guess whether food packaging is recyclable based on how the package feels, rather than studying the packaging.

“Households appeared to base their decisions about disposing of food packaging on informal personal judgments and mental shortcuts,” the report said.

‘Consumers often rely on tactile cues, distinguishing between ‘hard’ or ‘solid’ plastic food packaging, which are considered recyclable, and ‘soft’ or ‘flying’ plastics, leading to the misconception that the latter are non-recyclable are.

‘Decisions based on tacit or experiential knowledge are subjective and lead to differences between households in what is considered recyclable.’

Researchers have found that widespread confusion is forcing British households to ‘wishcycle’ (throwing packaging into recycling bins and hoping for the best).

They added that judgments may be ‘unreliable and outdated’ and not in line with the latest guidance from packaging labels or councils.

And this contributes to wishful cycling – ‘namely throwing away consumer waste in a recycling bin in the hope that it will be recycled, when that is not possible or unlikely to happen’.

“These wish cycling efforts are causing pollution in household collection vehicles, reducing efficiency,” they warned.

The Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project also found that reducing food waste in homes is as much a priority as minimizing plastic, and can sometimes even trump concerns about packaging.

“We also notice that we are reluctant to wash and recycle some packaging because we fear contamination, for example from packages of raw meat or fish,” says Professor Maria Piacentini, co-principal investigator of the project.

‘Residents are more likely to throw this type of recyclable waste into the general bin or contaminate their household recycling by not washing the containers, which can cause much greater contamination further down the recycling process.’

The researchers also warned that people regularly encounter different waste and recycling facilities at home, at work and on the road, further complicating matters.

They are calling for a ‘simpler, common sense approach’ to recycling, and for manufacturers to use texture or color to make their packaging more visible to consumers.

There is also a greater need for customers to pay more attention to the food packaging they buy, they said, and for residents to sort, wash and crush their household recycling themselves.

Finally, they suggest that households regularly check their municipality’s guidelines and prevent contamination by wish bicycles.

HOW MUCH RECYCLING GOES TO THE LANDFILL?

Every day, millions of us throw a plastic bottle or cardboard container in the trash – and we feel like we’re doing our bit for the environment.

But what we may not realize is that most plastic is never recycled at all and often ends up in landfills or incinerators.

Of the 30 billion plastic bottles used by British households every year, only 57 percent are currently recycled, with half going to landfill and half going to waste.

Most plastic is never recycled at all and often ends up in landfills or incinerators. About 700,000 plastic bottles per day end up as litter

About 700,000 plastic bottles per day end up as litter.

This is largely due to the plastic packaging around bottles that are not recyclable.

Britain throws away 2.5 billion ‘paper’ cups every year, which equates to 5,000 cups per minute.

Shockingly, less than 0.4 percent of this is recycled.

Most cups are made of cardboard with a thin layer of plastic.

This has previously caused problems with recycling, but can now be removed.

Five specialist recycling plants in the UK have the capacity to recycle all cups used on our high streets.

Ensuring that the paper cups get to these factories and are not improperly disposed of is one of the biggest challenges in paper cup recycling.