Exams steps for experiment

Glossary Capture – material targeted by a local recycling collection that is placed in a recycling
container by the householder. Missed capture – a missed opportunity by the householder to recycle
a material that is targeted by a local recycling collection. Contamination – in the context of this
report, an umbrella term to describe both nontargeted recyclable material and non-recyclable items
placed in a recycling container by the householder. Serious contamination – the addition to a
recycling container of waste items that cannot be recycled and cause issues for processing plants
e.g. animal bedding, sanitary products, and food. Matched – survey responses that have been
compared to local waste and recycling services by mapping respondents’ postcodes on to WRAP’s
local authority database. This allows subjective, self-reported responses to be compared against
objective information about recycling services in the local area. Able to be matched – ‘matched’ data
analysis excludes those with communal collections, materials that are disposed of outside of the
home (e.g. at a local recycling point) and where a household does not purchase a particular item and
therefore has none to dispose of (further information is presented in the methodology section)

Introduction

The Recycling Tracker is an annual survey of UK households that gathers evidence on consumers’
current attitudes, knowledge and behaviour in relation to recycling. Fieldwork was undertaken
online by Icarus, between the 27th January and 13th February 2017. A total of 3,239 interviews were
undertaken - in England (2,172 including boosts in London and Greater Manchester), Wales (650),
Scotland (207) and Northern Ireland (300). To achieve the overall UK sample the data from each of
the four nations and regions were combined according to their share of the UK population – giving
an ‘effective UK base’1 of 2,586. The analysis compares respondents’ self-reported recycling
behaviour to the known kerbside service provision in their area (using respondents’ postcodes and a
database of all UK council schemes maintained by WRAP2 ). This enables householders’ behaviour,
knowledge and attitudes to recycling to be understood in the context of the services they have
access to. To understand recycling behaviour, questions are specifically asked about how
respondents disposed of items on the last/most recent disposal occasion. Not all data can be
matched. This includes those who live in areas with partial3 collections and those with communal
collections (due to variations in services across a local authority area and uncertainties regarding
service provision at multiple occupancy buildings). The results give 2,490 valid, matched records.
When this is weighted in line with the distribution of the UK population the “effective matched
base” is 2,000. On graphs and tables, statistically significant differences are clearly flagged (at the
95% confidence level); if they are not flagged then any difference is not significant. Where there are
differences between nations and regions these are noted using the first letter of the nation or region
e.g. E= England, N= Northern Ireland etc.