Leeds – You’ve Bin Great!

Over 1.2 million coffee cups, 140,000 cans and 160,000 plastic bottles were recycled across Leeds City Centre over the last year thanks to Leeds By Example, the UK’s biggest collaborative drive to boost recycling of some of the most common food and drink packaging consumed ‘on-the-go’.

The pioneering pilot launched in October 2018 by Hubbub and Ecosurety, introduced 186 new recycling points and new technology in the square mile of Leeds City Centre. The aim was to test the impact of different bin designs, bin locations and communications over the course of a year.

Key findings include

Of the 1.2 million coffee cups recycled over the year, 117,000 were from on-street bins, over 469,000 from managed locations such as workplaces and universities and over 608,000 from retailers.
{b]The number of people recycling in Leeds City Centre nearly tripled from 17% to 49% over the course of the year.
The number of people recycling their coffee cup almost quadrupled, from 14% to 53% by the end of the trial.
A major challenge the campaign sought to address was to reduce the levels of contamination, as stray materials like food and drink in bins can lead to recyclable items not being able to be recycled. Clear messages such as “Empty plastic and cans, nowt else”, plus consistent colours and icons have helped achieve a steady reduction in contamination rates over the course of the trial, with an average contamination rate by volume of 25% and contamination levels significantly below the national average1.
The report also shows that the quality of recycling reduces during holiday or leisure periods when footfall rises, with more people who are not ‘regulars’ in the city centre. The night-time economy also has an impact.
Simply changing the messaging and colour of the bin has a significant impact on the amount of recycling collected.

Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and Director, Hubbub said: “We have learned a huge amount from this trial and would like to thank the people of Leeds and our partners for their support. The information we’ve gathered will inform many similar programmes in the future and we hope this will have a huge impact on recycling on-the-go levels across the UK. The city is now leading by example when it comes to recycling.”

Leeds By Example will continue to thrive, as Leeds City Council have now taken over waste collections and are continuing to work with local partner Zero Waste Leeds to promote and monitor the scheme. They are keen to increase the number of recycling points over time and to build on what’s been learnt to date.