A survey by BusinessWaste.co.uk of London boroughs has found that Brent has the third most confusing guidance on recycling.
They comment:
Scores range from 0 to 100, with a lower score indicating less confusing household recycling guidance. Flesch Reading Ease is a metric that rates text on a 0-100 scale, where higher scores mean a document is easier to read. The full dataset can be found here.
Bromley has the most confusing recycling guidance in London and in the UK, with an overall score of 71.9 out of 100. Across its website, 81 separate recycling rules and exclusions were counted. Residents use different containers for paper, plastic, glass, cans, and food, but some everyday items follow less obvious rules. Tetra Paks belong in the green box rather than the black paper box, while plastic plant pots are accepted unless they are black. Cut flowers can even go in the food waste container, provided they are wrapped in newspaper or placed in a compostable bag.
In second place is Enfield, with a score of 69.2, after 87 rules and exclusions were identified. Enfield’s blue recycling bin comes with a substantial amount of small print. For example, aluminium foil must be formed into a fist-sized ball, glass jars should be rinsed with their lids replaced, and shredded paper needs to be placed inside a paper bag. The council also warns that continued contamination, following letters to the household, could eventually result in collections being stopped and a £60 fixed penalty notice.
Brent is in third place, with a score of 66, with 79 rules and restrictions across its recycling guidance. Residents must separate paper and cardboard into a blue sack while placing other recycling in the blue-lidded bin. Some everyday items also come with detailed conditions, for example, a plastic plant pot is only accepted if it is made from PET or PP, is not black and measures more than 40mm by 40mm. Shredded paper must also be placed inside an old envelope before being recycled.
Mark Hall, Brent waste management expert at BusinessWaste.co.uk, said:
Most recycling decisions are made in a few seconds, usually with the packaging in one hand and the bin lid already open. People are unlikely to search several council pages every time they come across an item they’re unsure how to dispose of. If an answer depends on a minor detail, such as its colour, lining or whether two parts need separating, many will either guess or throw it in their general waste bin.
Unfortunately, this creates problems for both parties as recyclable material can be lost unnecessarily, while incorrect items can contaminate waste streams. Contamination is not always a sign that residents don’t care, it can also mean the guidance didn’t clearly explain a fairly ordinary question clearly enough.
Councils should aim to keep their core household rules on one current page, use consistent names for containers and place exemptions next to the items they relate to. Clear photographs of common packaging would be a more helpful step than expecting residents to understand technical material names or plastic identification codes.
Methodology:
Household recycling guidance was collected from 58 major urban areas across each nation of the UK.
The areas were selected from Investment Monitor's list of the UK's largest cities as a starting point, before being expanded to all 32 London borough councils.
This was done as it would provide broad coverage of major urban areas in the UK, while also allowing each council to be assessed fairly.
Researchers counted the special instructions residents were expected to follow, such as rinsing containers, removing lids or using a particular liner.
Items and material categories explicitly excluded from household bins were also counted.
Relevant guidance was assessed using Readable. Flesch Reading Ease was used to measure how difficult it was to read. Flesch-Kincaid grade levels were included for context but did not affect the final score.
Repeated rules were counted once. Collection dates, prices, missed-collection information and other administrative guidance were excluded.
Instructions, exclusions and readability were each scored from 0 to 100 and given equal weighting.
Those with a higher number of rules and a higher number of exclusions were scored higher, as this was interpreted as more information for residents to interpret and understand
The three component scores were averaged to produce the overall confusion score. A higher score indicates more complicated guidance.
The study measures the complexity of councils’ published online guidance. It is not intended to critique the quality of their recycling services.
This research is not a comprehensive review of every UK council, but rather a snapshot of councils in major UK urban areas. It purely highlights how the number of rules, exclusions and language used may affect how easily people interpret and follow the guidance provided.
Data was collected on the 13th August 2026 and is correct as of then
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