Tackling food contamination

Ecosurety has partnered with Hubbub and Lambeth Council on a bold new behaviour change campaign tackling one of recycling’s messiest problems: food contamination.

Food waste is responsible for nearly a third of contamination in Lambeth’s recycling. When leftover food ends up in recycling bins, it reduces the amount of material that can be properly processed and increases costs for local authorities - meaning more public money is spent sorting out the mess instead of improving services.

Giving dirty talk a whole new meaning

That’s why we’re working with Hubbub and Lambeth Council on a campaign that takes a cheekier-than-usual approach to a serious issue. Instead of repeating the standard recycling rulebook, this campaign uses playful, unexpected messaging to grab attention and get people thinking differently about how they recycle.

At its heart, the campaign is testing a bigger idea: can bold, creative communications cut through better than traditional recycling messages and lead to real, measurable behaviour change?

With Simpler Recycling on the horizon and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) unlocking new funding for councils to engage residents, the timing is critical.

Watch our campaign video below

Small changes – big impact

“Ecosurety’s mission is to rid the world of unnecessary packaging, and a key part of achieving that is increasing the amount of packaging that is successfully recycled. Recycling quality is one of the biggest barriers to this, with food waste playing a major role. Building on previous success, we're excited to fund this campaign with Hubbub to explore whether more creative, disruptive messaging can help people make small changes that have a big impact on the system as a whole. This campaign is about learning what really works when it comes to engaging residents and improving recycling quality.”