Increasing Recycling Rates From Urban Flats

Canopies & Walkways
Brentford Towers, Hounslow
July 10, 2024

Increasing Recycling Rates From Urban Flats

In the United Kingdom, flats make up around 20% of all households, while the housing stock for flats in London can rise to 80% in some inner-city boroughs. Concerningly, the average recycling rate for flats is only 10%, underscoring why only 33% of household waste is recycled across the Capital.

As part of efforts to achieve the Government’s target of recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2035, many local councils with a high proportion of these properties are utilising a range of solutions to try and increase recycling rates, such as daily timed bag collections, increasing bin storage capacity, and improving accessibility and communication strategies. 

With focus on ReLondons ‘Making recycling work for people in flats 2.0’ research project, which explored new ways of increasing recycling from purpose-built flats, the following article takes a look into the social and demographic factors that affect recycling capture from flats, and the available solutions to help overcome them.

What Are the Challenges? 

UK households living in flats, whether converted or purpose-built, will typically have communal collections for waste and recycling which can raise particular challenges when it comes to achieving positive recycling practices from residents. Available evidence demonstrates that recycling rates for communal flat collections are significantly lower than for households with access to individual kerbside collections. Many HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) in the UK are established without going through a licence application process to ensure that appropriate off-street refuse storage can be provided, meaning that recycling rates are typically even lower for these housing types. 

Low recycling rates in flats are largely a result of complex and unique circumstances including the communal nature of collection programs, inconsistent collection provisions, inadequate infrastructure such as poorly designed bin storage layouts, and a general lack of awareness and engagement from residents. In dense urban areas and inner-city boroughs, improving recycling rates is particularly challenging due to the significantly higher quantity of residents living in flats, while most new-build developments will specifically involve these housing types. In London, over 1 ⁄ 3 of the current housing market is flats and apartments, and estimates suggest that close to 50% of the Capital’s households will be living in purpose-built flats by 2030. 

What’s often overlooked, though, is the environmental impact these recycling shortcomings can have. Poor recycling practices can quickly lead to increased pressure on refuse capacity, leading to overflowing bins, contamination of materials, and issues with side waste and fly-tipping from residents. Many of London’s housing estates were built before the requirement for the provision of recycling services, and communal bin areas were typically located out of sight, away from the main entrances of buildings. Once recycling requirements were established, the focus was instead placed on improving compatibility and access for collection vehicles, rather than ensuring recycling facilities effectively met the needs of residents. 

ReLondon and ‘Making Recycling Work for People in Flats 2.0’

A partnership between the Mayor of London and the London Boroughs to improve waste and resource management and help transform the Capital into a leading low carbon circular economy, ReLondon’s work with the London Borough of Lambeth provides key insight into how to increase recycling rates from purpose-built flats. 

The ‘Making Recycling Work for People in Flats 2.0’ project introduced new recycling and food waste facilities across four Lambeth housing estates on a trial basis. The project began with a baseline measurement of recycling and residual waste (11%), with the new facilities integrated alongside engaging communications designed to be distinct from other initiatives across the Capital. Existing residual waste chutes were closed with all new waste streams co-located to ensure ease of access and disposal. 35 metroSTOR FX food waste bin housings were specified as part of the project, with kitchen caddies provided for residents to ease the food separation process at home. Regular textile collections were also introduced with designated containers for disposal of small WEEE. 

Following the changes to recycling services, estates with lower recycling rates saw greater uptake, however, the biggest impact was seen on residents who were already recycling some dry mixed recyclables. Contamination rates only decreased from 31% to 29%, however, the quality of the material in the food waste bins was high, with only 3% of the material being contaminated by materials like plastic film and carrier bags. While the rate of increase varied depending on the specific material, capture rates also improved across all recyclables. 

Overall, the 13-month pilot scheme resulted in a 152% increase in recycling rates, with the baseline rising from 11% to 27%. An impressive 45% reduction in food waste was achieved within the residual waste stream, with the touch-free operation of the metroSTOR FX units making it easier for residents to participate in food waste recycling.

Identifying the Solutions

Updated following the publication of the ‘Flats 2.0’ project, Relondon’s Flats recycling package provides a toolkit for housing providers, property managers and service providers seeking to make improvements to the waste and recycling facilities available for residents. It includes project planning and implementation templates, as well as communication assets.

The revised package includes guidance on introducing food waste recycling services to flats setting out existing and new operational and communication guidelines designed to upscale the dry recycling services available in flats. These include:

Operational Guidelines

Communication Guidelines