Robin Davies, Serco’s Environmental Services Business
The results of a new poll by Future Thinking show that millennials are “the least likely age group to recycle”.
According to a press release from Future Thinking, this research flies in the face of the “myth” that young people are “more environmentally conscious than older generations.”
A mere 49 percent of 16-34 year olds said that they recycle all they can, a decrease of 8 percentage points year-on-year. This figure stands in stark contrast to results from older demographics, with 70 percent of 35-54 year olds, 83 percent of 55-74 year olds, and 81 percent of those aged over 75 saying they recycle as much as possible.
The 16-34 year olds who revealed they do not recycle all they can were asked to give reasons why, with the main ones being “confusion over what can be recycled (16 percent), the need for recycling collections to be more frequent (12 percent), and not having recycling bins or bags (11 percent).”
4 percent admitted they couldn’t be bothered to recycle, while 7 percent said they found it too time consuming and “5 percent said they didn’t believe that waste separated for recycling is actually recycled.”
Across all age demographics, the poll revealed that 68 percent of UK residents “said they recycle all they can”, a decrease of 3 percentage points from last year, and the poll also found that men were more likely to recycle than women (69 percent compared to 66 percent).
Future Thinking, which surveyed over 3000 members of the public for this poll, is a business and long-term research partner of Serco’s Environmental Services.
Robin Davies of Serco’s Environmental Services Business said: “It’s clear that the industry needs to do more to get millennials engaged in the benefits of recycling. With so much competition for young people’s time and attention, we need to find new and compelling ways to explain why recycling is so important, making it fresh and relevant for the social media generation.”
“Next year Serco will be setting up a young people’s panel to better understand the reasons behind the decline in engagement and how it might be tackled. If we’re going to make a difference it will be important to work together, so we’ll be sharing our findings with colleagues and practitioners from across the recycling sector.”
Claire Tyrell-Williams, Associate Director, Future Thinking, said: “The results of this poll go against the received wisdom that young people are more interested in green issues than older generations. On the face of it, the results make worrying reading for the future, especially given the year-on-year trend towards fewer millennials recycling. Confusion over what can be recycled looks partly to blame, but there is also a significant level of underlying apathy.”
“The challenge for the industry is to overcome the key barriers that prevent people from changing their behaviour and adopting recycling habits. Making recycling easy and attractive for millennials in the context of their busy lifestyles, and using a behavioural change model to understand what makes those who do recycle unique, will be key to changing their behaviours.”