Recycling behaviour in a London Borough: Results from large-scale household surveys

The context for this research is the establishment of national and local authority targets for the amount of household waste to be recycled. Given widespread concern that these targets are not being met, the research project not only evaluated the effectiveness of the existing opportunities for householders in Kensington and Chelsea but also promoted participation in recycling. One effect of this promotion was an observable increase in the amount of waste for recycling following both surveys. A key conclusion is that large-scale house-to-house publicity of local recycling opportunities has a demonstrable positive effect, but that for current targets to be met more householders need to be convinced of the need to recycle.