Food waste recycling

Barriers and enablers to engagement with local food waste collection services

We carried out a survey of UK citizens to understand the factors that might affect levels of household food waste recycling (See ‘research methodology’ section). [iv] We then used the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model to identify behavioural targets for interventions (see Figure 2).

The COM-B model suggests that for a behaviour to occur, there must be the capability, opportunity and motivation to perform the behaviour:

Figure 2: The COM-B model

Table 2. Definitions of COM-B components

Awareness of and readiness for the introduction of food waste collections

We found that there was low awareness of the Government’s intention to provide food waste collection for all households in England: three quarters (74%) of respondents said they were not aware of this. However, once they had been made aware, a majority (85%) subsequently claimed that they were ready for the introduction of such schemes.

Barriers to behaviour change

In order to better understand potential barriers to behaviour change, we asked respondents who have access to food waste collection schemes but who do not use them to provide reasons for not recycling their food waste. While it is not possible from our survey data to analyse the significance of each of these barriers or their prevalence among the general population, they do give an indication of factors that might need to be considered in designing food waste recycling schemes. Further research is needed to learn how widespread these views are.

Capability:

• Knowledge gaps relating to the value of recycling food waste.
• Knowledge gaps relating to what should be put into food waste recycling. One respondent elaborated; “…bit more training on what goes in would be nice.”

Opportunity:

• Time costs and hassle: “It’s too much hassle.”
• Not having the space in household for an extra bin: “We don’t have space in our (rented) kitchen for an additional bin on top of the general and recycling bins.”
• Not wanting to take on the extra responsibility of separating food waste from other household waste: “I think my household are currently unprepared as this is something we do not do at the moment and would need to get into the routine of doing.”

Motivation:

• Preference for dealing with food waste in other ways, such as home-composting or feeding pets/strays.
• Perception that it is only worth using a separate food waste bin if you produce a lot of food waste: “I live alone and don’t produce enough food waste to make it worthwhile.”
• Concerns over pests, odour and hygiene within the household: “I [don’t] want it to make the house smell or attract mice/rats etc.”
• Concerns over neighbourhood pollution outside of the household, such as litter and visual clutter from the excess bins required on streets.
• Concerns relating to implementation such as unreliable collection services which may exacerbate pests and pollution.

Barriers to using compostable caddy liners

The environmental NGO WRAP surveyed householders and found that they were more likely to participate in food waste collection schemes where they were provided with liners for their food waste caddies.[v]

There is some debate about whether it might be preferable for people to use compostable  plastic caddy liners in their food waste bins (as opposed to conventional plastic liners or alternatives such as newspaper). We wanted to learn more about barriers that might stop people from using them, should they be determined to be beneficial. We identified the following barriers:

 Capability:

• Not knowing where to find compostable caddy liners for purchase: “I don’t know where to get them from.”

Opportunity:

• Low availability of compostable caddy liners on the market.
• Financial costs associated with buying compostable liners.
• Council not accepting compostable liners: “Our council supply us with single use polythene bags as liners, rather than compostable material.”

Motivation:

• Preference for repurposing other materials such as newspaper: “We wrap our food waste in newspaper.”
• Belief that compostable liners are wasteful: “Even though they are compostable they still are bad for the environment. They require carbon to manufacture, transport etc and I’m not entirely sure whether they break down.”

Conclusion: increasing engagement with local food waste collections

Citizens will require a combination of capability, opportunity and motivation to recycle their food waste. It is important therefore to think holistically about intervention design; tackling parts in isolation is unlikely to be effective.

Capacity

In order to build capability, it might be necessary to increase knowledge of which items can go into food waste bins (and which can’t).

Strategies for increasing capacity might include ensuring clear and consistent messaging about what can and can’t be put in food waste bins. Consideration should be given to who is the most appropriate messenger and how consistency between different local authorities might be achieved.

Opportunity

Strategies for increasing opportunity might include providing bins, caddies and liners free of change.

Motivation

Strategies for increasing motivation might include ensuring bins, caddies and liners are designed to meet user needs for cleanliness, convenience and hygiene.

In addition, our findings also hinted at a lack of faith in local authorities’ ability to collect the waste regularly and efficiently. This suggests that it will be important to ensure that authorities are properly resourced to implement effective and efficient food waste collections from day one. The risk is that if people experience a poor service, public confidence and support for food waste recycling might be undermined.

Research methodology

We conducted a survey of UK citizens, aged 18 and above in May and June 2021. Participants were recruited in a variety of ways: by Prolific (a professional data collection service); through promotion via social media and by promotion to participants in the Big Compost Experiment.  In total 1,801 participants completed the survey.

For a more detailed description of our methodology, including participant demographics, see our peer-reviewed paper. [iv]

This paper was written by Ayse Lisa Allison and Jenny Bird.

The authors of this briefing belong to the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, a multidisciplinary group of academics including scientists, engineers, designers, artists and social scientists. Contact us on hello@plasticwastehub.org.uk.

This briefing was developed with the Policy Impact Unit. Find out more at www.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/PIU or email us on: PolicyImpactUnit@ucl.ac.uk