WRAP Cymru: Recycle for Wales Doorstep Engagement Campaign in Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council
Background & Context
M·E·L Research was commissioned by WRAP Cymru to deliver and evaluate a targeted doorstep engagement campaign on behalf of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. The campaign formed part of the wider Recycle for Wales programme, which aimed to encourage residents across Wales to recycle more materials, particularly food waste, in support of Welsh Government ambitions to increase recycling rates and reduce waste.
Although the vast majority of Welsh households already had access to kerbside food waste collections, participation rates varied significantly between communities. Rhondda Cynon Taf was identified as an authority that would benefit from targeted intervention because participation monitoring had highlighted a number of lower-performing collection rounds and neighbourhoods.
The campaign sought to improve participation amongst residents who were less likely to use the food waste collection service. Particular emphasis was placed on engaging:
Lower-performing households identified through participation monitoring.
University students living in term-time accommodation.
Families.
Communities experiencing higher levels of deprivation.
Beyond encouraging greater participation, the campaign also aimed to understand residents’ awareness of what could be recycled through the food waste service, identify barriers preventing participation, facilitate the ordering of replacement recycling containers where required, and generate behavioural insights that could inform future campaigns. The selected campaign areas were profiled using participation monitoring data alongside Census and ACORN geo-demographic information to ensure they reflected the intended target audiences, including areas with higher proportions of students, social housing and financially stretched households.
Approach
M·E·L Research designed and delivered a comprehensive doorstep engagement campaign combining behaviour change communications with structured quantitative data collection.
The campaign targeted nine areas across Rhondda Cynon Taf:
Abercynon
Maerdy
Llanharan
Llwynypia
Penrhiwceiber
Rhydyfelin
Treforest
Gilfach Goch
Ynysybwl
The methodology comprised several distinct elements:
Campaign design and targeting
Worked alongside WRAP Cymru and Rhondda Cynon Taf to identify lower-performing collection rounds using participation monitoring data.
Profiled selected areas using ACORN geo-demographic segmentation and 2011 Census data to ensure they met campaign objectives relating to students, deprivation and household characteristics.
Doorstep engagement campaign
Locally recruited and trained a team of Recycling Advisors.
Advisors worked Tuesday to Saturday conducting face-to-face doorstep conversations with residents.
Advisors wore Recycle for Wales branded clothing, carried official identification and letters of authority, and used tablets to capture survey responses electronically.
Where no resident answered, households received bilingual recycling information and “Sorry we missed you” cards, ensuring every property received campaign communications.
All campaign materials were produced in both Welsh and English.
Face-to-face survey
15,478 households were canvassed.
5,255 households participated in doorstep conversations.
Survey topics included:
Claimed use of the food waste collection service.
Types of food waste recycled.
Frequency of collection use.
Barriers to participation.
Factors that would encourage increased use.
Requests for replacement food waste containers.
Household demographics.
General resident feedback.
Geo-demographic profiling
ACORN segmentation was used to understand the socio-demographic profile of households reached.
Census characteristics were modelled to understand household composition, housing tenure, family structure and communication preferences.
The project also documented operational learning from campaign delivery, including recruitment challenges associated with temporary fieldwork positions and recommendations for future recruitment approaches.
Outputs
The campaign generated both operational outcomes and detailed behavioural insight for WRAP Cymru and Rhondda Cynon Taf. Analysis included:
Standard frequency analysis.
Cross-tabulation of survey responses by:
Age.
Gender.
Household composition.
Student status.
Geographic area.
Education status.
Statistical significance testing using 95% confidence intervals.
Comparative analysis of behaviours across demographic groups and campaign locations.
Geo-demographic interpretation using ACORN segmentation and Census profiling.
The project produced:
A comprehensive written evaluation report.
Detailed statistical data tables.
Survey documentation.
Communications materials used during fieldwork.
Area-level analysis identifying behavioural differences across communities.
Practical recommendations to support future behaviour change campaigns.
The findings enabled WRAP Cymru and the local authority to understand where participation was strongest, where additional intervention was required, and which population groups required more targeted communications.
The campaign also produced practical service improvements by enabling residents to order replacement food waste containers during the doorstep visit. Overall, approximately one in ten residents contacted requested either an external food waste bin or an internal kitchen caddy, providing an opportunity to increase future participation. Based on the number of external food waste bins ordered, the report estimated that an additional 2,115.75kg of food waste could potentially be captured during each collection cycle if all newly supplied containers were used.
The evaluation also generated evidence on behavioural barriers and motivations. It highlighted the importance of ensuring residents had access to collection containers, improving awareness of the full range of food waste that could be recycled, strengthening communications with student households, and maintaining targeted engagement within lower-performing communities.
The report concluded with practical recommendations for future delivery, including closer collaboration with universities and letting agents to engage students, clearer information on obtaining replacement liners, continued promotion of lesser-known recyclable food waste items, and ongoing targeted communications in areas with lower participation levels.
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