Clearer packaging information required to end the habit of ‘wishcycling’

A recent survey by On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL), the packaging labelling organisation, has shown that 89% of people in the UK rely on packaging labels to help them make recycling decisions.  

Using so-called ‘on-pack’ information demonstrates that consumers have a good degree of confidence that the instruction provided is accurate, and are hopefully making correct decisions based on that guidance. However, the quality and clarity of the recycling information provided still has a way to go.

Bearing in mind that the Household Recycling Act was passed in 2003, requiring local authorities in England to provide every household with a separate collection of at least two types of recyclable materials by 2010, as a country we have been recycling for a long time. And the fact that packaging has recycling information included, and that 89% of people rely on that guidance should be a reason to celebrate – but it begs the question how clear and accurate that information really is.

Last year the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) reported that households are still wasting over one billion items every year that could be recycled. These statistics revealed that millions of recyclable bottles, sprays and toilet roll tubes still face incineration, or landfill. And the confusion works both ways – it’s not just people throwing away recyclables. A report published in 2022 also revealed that 84% of UK households unintentionally contaminate their recycling bins, by putting non-recycling items into them.

With eight out of 10 UK households regularly recycling, there is clearly a desire to recycle more and to ‘get it right’. With the very high percentage of people referring to packaging to understand whether and where a product can be recycled, does this mean that recycling instructions are still confusing?

A simple Google search shows how many websites, articles and blogs there still are on what can and cannot be recycled, and there is clearly confusion still out there. This was backed up last month in a survey by Aura, a packaging sustainability consultancy, that showed that 73% of Brits admit to ‘wishcycling’, the practice of recycling items without knowing if they are recyclable. 

What does this all mean?

So, while it is encouraging that there have been improvements in consumer confidence regarding using recycling information on packaging, there is obviously still a need for that information to be even more clearly communicated to avoid ‘wishcycling’ and in turn improve the quality of the recyclable materials businesses like us at Casepak can recover.