Students will be one of the "key areas of focus" when a new recycling strategy is rolled out in Nottingham amid disappointment at how few of them took part in a consultation on it. Nottingham City Council is trying to improve the area's recycling rate, which had fallen to 23.9 per cent last October, compared to a figure of 27 per cent in 2019.
The authority recently held a public consultation on plans for its future recycling strategy and despite receiving more than 3,600 responses, concerns were raised about the low number of responses from people living with disabilities and members of minority ethnic communities. But particular concern has also been raised about the low number of responses from Nottingham's students.
A meeting held about the council's future waste strategy on February 8 heard from Antony Greener, the head of district heating and waste strategy at Nottingham City Council. Speaking about the low response rate from students in the consultation, he said: "I'm very disappointed, given that this is the generation that claims to be the ones who are going to have to live with the burden of climate change.
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"It would have been nice to see more engagement. That's not to say that there isn't an interest in that age group, it's difficult to say why we got such a low response to be honest."
The recent consultation asked residents to choose between a future of twin-stream or multi-stream recycling. The former idea would see paper and card being collected separately from other recyclable materials, which would continue to be collected in a wheelie bin.
The latter would see multiple recycling containers introduced, with separate containers provided to collect paper and card, plastics and cans, and glass. Despite responding in low numbers, some of Nottingham's students say they will comply with whichever new rules are eventually introduced.
Lily Bateman, 20, a student at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) said: "I try my best to recycle now. I'm in a university house, but sometimes I forget and it's hard to get your entire house to all do it too, it's a group effort. I wasn't aware there was any particular scheme in place right now but if we had clear instructions about this new recycling idea, I think a lot more students would participate than they think."
But Ben Phillips, 19, another student at NTU, said: "In my accommodation, we do have designated bins but I don't really put much thought into it. It doesn't really cross my mind."
Ellie Williams, 22, who goes to the University of Nottingham, added: "I don't actively go out of my way to not recycle, I sometimes forget but most of the time I'm aware of it. Student houses can be awful, sometimes you're barely provided with a working bin, let alone two. It puts you off doing stuff like recycling when you're living in places like that."
Councillor Sam Gardiner, the chairman of Nottingham City Council's overview and scrutiny committee, asked at the meeting in early February if there was an issue with young people complying with waste collection rules. Antony Greener replied: "I think the fact that the council is in the process of developing as student strategy, the two main objectives of which are to tackle noise and waste, will be the answer to that question.
"I think we recognise as a consequence of the low response rates from young people and people who live in HMOs that they will be one of the key areas of focus in terms of how we try to improve recycling services. There isn't a one size fits all solution."
Councillor Sally Longford, Nottingham City Council's portfolio holder for energy, environment and waste, spoke at the meeting about why so few students may have taken part in the consultation. She said: "You've got to remember that we've got thousands of students in the city and actually, a long-term strategy for waste in Nottingham specifically probably isn't that important to them. They probably think they won't be here.
"It's extremely disappointing, despite lots of effort that went into it, that we didn't get a lot of responses from students. The universities supported the push to get responses and you'd have hoped that some of their students living in HMOs would have responded, but it didn't seem to make that much difference."
The council's new waste collection strategy is expected to be considered by executive members of the authority next month. March will also see a trial for 3,500 households in Nottingham beginning, changing the way their food waste is collected.
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