Plastics from the bathroom being taken downstairs for recycling

Communications Guidance

Using campaigns to increase recycling and reduce waste

Effective communications are essential in encouraging communities, employees and residents to recycle more things, more often.

Our research and guides can help you to understand who recycles what, what the barriers are to recycling and how to use targeted messages to increase recycling.

Key communications resources

Recycle Now

The UK's national recycling campaign

The Recycle Now brand is managed by a dedicated team of experts who are passionate about leading the UK’s recycling movement. It uses proven behaviour change theory, hard evidence and a passion for change to work collaboratively with key stakeholders and the Government to bring everyone together to make real, sustainable impact on recycling behaviour.

Recycle Now has adopted the behavioural change approach of integrating social norming messaging into its recycling communications; a technique which has proven to change people’s pro-environmental behaviours.

Free assets to communicate with residents

Recycle Now provide a range of free campaign assets, including toolkits, logos and digital assets, for organisations to use or tailor for use in their communications with consumers.

For example, help your householders to reduce food waste by sharing video tips: 

Support from the National Communications Advisory Panel (NCAP)

The National Communications Advisory Panel brings together local authority waste communication officers to share information and best practice and input on the strategic development of the national communications campaigns.

This forum meets three times a year and is an opportunity to:

  • Update local authorities and community groups on the progress with the national campaigns
  • Share forthcoming plans and opportunities around the campaigns
  • Share and promote best practice
  • Discuss research findings
  • Give input on the future work of the national Recycle Now and Love Food Hate Waste campaigns
  • Explore how WRAP can best support local waste awareness initiatives
  • Explore how WRAP can best support local recycling communications campaigns.

If you have a query about NCAP please get in touch.

Explore our citizen campaigns