Keep Britain Tidy’s Updated Waste Hierarchy
Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) is ‘a leading independent environmental charity that works to inspire, educate and enable everyone in this country to value the environment on their doorstep.’
At ICEX GROUP, we always prioritise reviving technology for reuse over recycling - because recycling is our last resort. This is because we know first-hand that reusing equipment and functioning parts is better for the environment than recycling and, of course, far, far better than dumping into landfill.
KBT have launched an updated version of the waste hierarchy to define the differences between reduce, reuse and recycle - as the charity found that 30% of people found these terms interchangeable - when in reality recycling is a last resort and reducing/preventing waste in the first place is far more impactful followed by reusing items far more.
KBT have updated it to be a much more visual design for clarity - see image with post.
This clearer version of the waste hierarchy has been shown to inspire more creative ways that people and organisations can reduce their waste and negative environmental impact!
KBT found that ‘After seeing the new hierarchy, 71% of research participants said it was clear what it was asking them to do, 58% recognised better ways to minimise their environmental footprint beyond recycling and 51% felt motivated to protect the planet.’
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy said:
“We have made a lot of progress by emphasising the recycling part of the waste hierarchy. But we can’t just recycle our way out of the climate emergency; we urgently need to shift mindsets and make reuse and consumption reduction a social norm.
“Embracing better, insight-led communications like this new waste hierarchy is an essential piece of the puzzle as it will have a significant bearing on how widely adopted reduce and reuse behaviour becomes. We urge practitioners across the industry to follow our new guidance and, vitally, to come together to tackle the issue.”
The bottom line is that recycling isn’t enough and we have to become better, as an economy and as a society, at waste-reducing and waste-preventing practices.
To read more follow the link here and see what the charity are up to: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/news/keep-britain-tidy-unveils-new-waste-hierarchy-encourage-reduce-and-reuse-behaviours
For a conversation about any of our services, or to have a chat about how we can help your organisation promote the circular economy to help people, the planet and your organisation, contact the ICEX GROUP team today:
📞 01376 503900
ICEX GROUP’s mission is to securely revive or relocate, and if necessary, recycle all our clients’ technology assets, to help achieve digital equality, and reduce E-waste to landfill.
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