From 31 March 2026, the Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure households across England can recycle the same materials. The aim is to make recycling easier, reduce confusion and increase recycling rates.
The key to its success is clear and effective citizen communications. Working in partnership with Defra, we’ve produced the following communications guidance and toolkits for local authorities to use to implement Simpler Recycling.
Simpler Recycling toolkit and assets
The Simpler Recycling Toolkit provides editable, downloadable communication assets to help local authorities explain service improvements and changes clearly and consistently, enabling residents to recycle correctly and with confidence.
Our templates and assets include:
Other communications guidance
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Love Food Hate Waste: Feast Smart, Waste Less
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Household Food Waste Collections: Communications guidance and templates
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Kerbside plastics bag collection guidance & templates: guidance document and supporting assets
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Indicative costs for communications
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Service change communications guide
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Improving recycling through effective communications
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Local Authority website good practice guide
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Kerbside collection calendars
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Monitoring communications activities
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Printing process explained
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Design of communications materials
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Barriers to recycling at home
Recycle Now
The UK's national recycling campaign
The Recycle Now brand is managed by a dedicated team of experts who are passionate about leading the UK’s recycling movement. It uses proven behaviour change theory, hard evidence and a passion for change to work collaboratively with key stakeholders and the Government to bring everyone together to make real, sustainable impact on recycling behaviour.
Recycle Now has adopted the behavioural change approach of integrating social norming messaging into its recycling communications; a technique which has proven to change people’s pro-environmental behaviours.
Recycle Now campaign assets include:
Sharing Local Authority communications best practice
The National Communications Advisory Panel (NCAP) in England brings together local authority waste communication officers to share information and best practice and input on the strategic development of the national communications campaigns.
This forum meets three times a year and is an opportunity to share best practice, promote new communications campaign assets and guidance available, and obtain valuable feedback.
If you have a query about NCAP please get in touch
Other key areas of work with local authorities
Contact us for more information
If your authority would benefit from accessing our one-to-one support, or would simply like to discuss the kind of support we can offer, please get in touch for more information.
We have a team of experts who would be very happy to help.