Rubbermaid releases results from second phase of Love Recycling research report

Rubbermaid Commercial Products, based in Winchester, Virginia, has released the results from the second Love Recycling study, which looks at commercial recycling across Europe. The study's first phase began earlier this year and, since then, the conditions under lockdowns associated with the pandemic saw some sectors closed completely and others under increased operational pressure, creating greater volumes of waste, such as used personal protective equipment (PPE).

The first phase of the study found:

• Nearly three-quarters of businesses across Europe feel that their recycling efforts are not always successful.
• Over two-thirds of European businesses say poor or nonexistent processes or facilities affect how much they recycle. More than 25 percent admit this problem is very or extremely influential in holding back their recycling efforts.
• Business needs more government support. Nearly 30 percent of U.K. businesses feel a lack of government incentives stops them from doing more. One in 10 feels poor government intervention is an extremely significant bar to progress.
• Europewide 90 percent of businesses feel the government needs to do more to encourage commercial recycling.
• And 83 percent of them plan to spend more on recycling solutions in the future.

The pandemic’s effect on commercial recycling and waste management is a less-discussed and less-measured but important area of commercial disruption.

The second phase of the study, between July and September, aimed to find out how commercial waste and recycling practices were disrupted by pandemic conditions, what new priorities it created and what specific effect lockdown (and the period since) has had on day-to-day practices as well as longer-term intentions.

The report contains a variety of findings:

• Fifty-six percent of respondents said recycling practices had been affected by the pandemic.
• Thirty percent of businesses said recycling has gained importance because of the pandemic.
• Almost three-quarters of businesses indicated that their current recycling efforts are not always successful.
• Eighty-six percent of businesses said they would give recycling greater focus in the coming years.
• The number of respondents implementing dedicated PPE disposal may be as low as 20 percent.

While businesses are continuing to adapt to new scenarios and practices during their reopening phase, the findings in this report help to give context to what they have prioritized and what still needs to be done, Rubbermaid says. 

“Commercial recycling is a long-term project that changes and develops over time. When disruptive events like the pandemic occur, they have the potential to derail progress, or create setbacks,” RCP’s Head of Marketing Paul Jakeway says.

He adds, “The Love Recycling Research Project has seen us work with over 1,000 European businesses of all sizes. When we conducted our initial study, it was to see what the general state of commercial recycling was within Europe. From that basis, this second, more specific study, gave us a chance to see what had changed during and after lockdown.”

During the remaining months of 2020 and into 2021, European businesses are expecting to reopen and return to prepandemic levels of operation, Rubbermaid says. Businesses can use this opportunity to implement and improve recycling processes at their facilities, develop their sustainability credentials and do more to help minimize the commercial impact on the environment.