Keep Britain Tidy launches campaign to curb recycling contamination from nappies

Keep Britain Tidy is working with local authorities across the UK to prevent recycling contamination from disposable nappies, with a campaign launched today (11 March).

The nappy campaign constitutes part of Keep Britain Tidy’s wider Contamination Reduction Programme and aims to address public confusion over whether disposable nappies are recyclable.

In a new survey, it was revealed that 7 per cent of nappy users wrongly put disposable nappies in the recycling.

The survey, carried out by YouGov, also revealed that younger people aged 18-24 were more likely to put them in their recycling bin (15 per cent). In London, more than one in 10 people who used disposable nappies (11 per cent) tried to recycle them.

In a 2020 research report, Keep Britain Tidy’s Centre for Social Innovation found that ambiguous messaging, lack of bin space, and misunderstandings of the broader recycling system have been key factors in leading many members of the public to recycling disposable nappies.

As a result, the campaign uses a single message and visual, tested on nappy users for clarity, to enforce that disposable nappies should never go in the recycling.
This message will appear on billboards in areas across the nine local authorities that are working in collaboration with the charity: Buckinghamshire Council, Dorset Council, Durham County Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Leicestershire County Council, Milton Keynes Council, North London Waste Authority, Suffolk Waste Partnership and Wigan Council.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “Truckload after truckload of carefully separated and collected recycling is being rejected because so many people don’t know that they cannot recycle nappies and so contaminate their recycling by sticking them in there.

“Not only is this costing our local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, it is an environmental disaster.

“The message to everyone who uses disposable nappies must be clearer – nappies never go in your recycling.

“We know from our research that there is confusion among the public about recycling – our survey has found that a third of nappy users admit to being confused – so we call on all manufacturers of disposable nappies to use eye-catching labelling that clearly communicates their product cannot be recycled.

“Our campaign features a new symbol that we would like to see carried on every pack of nappies so that there is clear and consistent advice to the public, many of whom are trying to do the right thing with what they perceive, incorrectly and tragically, is a recyclable product.”