![14 15
Goal: Preventing waste
We are using up the planet’s scarce resources at an alarming rate.
Our hunger for, and rapid consumption of, natural resources is
having significant impacts on our environment – biodiversity loss,
climate change, land use pressures and marine pollution.
Businesses and government are beginning
to recognise this threat to the current
economic system and are moving towards
a circular economy – reducing the use
of resources in the first place, re-using,
repairing and, at the very least, recycling
materials over and over again.
However, the population in general has been
left out of this debate or are confused by it.
Without public support for, and buy-in to,
making changes in the way we consume,
use and re-use products and services, the
circular economy can only go so far.
More than 80% of the ‘stuff’ people throw
away is recyclable and recycling is the first
step towards a more circular, resource-
efficient economy. After steady growth,
and despite good practice in many local
authorities, average household recycling
rates in England are flat-lining and we are
now in danger of missing our European
target of 50% recycled by 2020.
Recycling is important, but it is an inefficient
way of keeping valuable and finite materials
in our economy. We must take steps to
enable the prevention of waste and efficient
use of resources to become the norm in
England. This will take both the re-design
of business models, products and services
alongside the public acceptance of new
and different forms of consumption that
minimises material use and maximises
prevention, re-use, remanufacture and repair
of resources.
Keep Britain Tidy will focus on the
contribution of the public - the role people
can play in reducing resource consumption,
changing the way they consume and the way
they live their lives. Despite considerable
efforts to engage the public, our research
shows that they are largely unaware of
many of the issues and are disengaged from
the process.
We will achieve this goal by
focusing on:
• Increasing understanding
and changing behaviours to
prevent waste
• Improving recycling levels
in England - both in quality
and quantity
Our Ur[bin] research shows
that people are sympathetic
to recycling, but badly
informed
Setting standards
• We will better understand how waste
prevention, re-use or recycling quality
and quantity can be improved. We will
develop and pilot a standard in this area in
conjunction with partners
Engaging and mobilising
communities
• We will work to increase public
understanding of the value and limits of
material resources
• We will engage the public more effectively
in solutions to reducing resource use,
developing Waste less, Live more Week into
a more visible showcase for best practice in
the field
• We will tackle the current flat-lining in
recycling rates by improving residents’
understanding and commitment and
by rebuilding their trust with the waste
management and disposal industry and local
authorities through better communications
and mutual understanding
Sharing best practice and
developing innovation
• We will work to understand the barriers and
opportunities to getting people to understand
and take action to waste less and recognise
resource limits
• We will work with partners and apply Keep
Britain Tidy’s model for social innovation to
develop and scale new approaches to reducing
waste
Campaigning and influencing
policy
• We will make the case for innovative
approaches to reward communities far
reducing municipal waste
• We will make the case for landfill tax to be
spent on reducing landfill and waste once
again, for example improving communications
or the provision of universal food waste
collections for all households in England
Inspiring and educating the next
generation
• We will seek partnerships and funding to
develop innovative resources that support
children to learn about and engage with waste
reduction and recycling
By 2020 we will have achieved:
• Increased public understanding of resource
limits and the need to reduce waste
• Developed and trialled influential ‘blueprint’
standards within waste management;
supporting improvements to waste prevention,
re-use or recycling
• Developed, tested and scaled new and
innovative ways of enabling people to reduce
their waste and increase their recycling levels
So that nationally:
• At least 52% of municipal waste in England is
recycled
• Universal food waste collections for all
households in England are introduced
• The percentage of people who are committed
to preventing waste increases](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/c4ead64d-c171-42e3-bbb9-1a291b95769a-150814162433-lva1-app6891/85/KBT-5-Year-Strategy-9-320.jpg)
KBT 5 Year Strategy
- 2. 1 Keep Britain Tidy is an independent charity that fights for people’s right to live and work in a place of which they can be proud
- 3. 2 3 Our vision, mission and values Our vision A country where people understand, value and actively care for their environment. A society that preserves scarce resources, wastes less and recycles more, creating a healthier society and a healthier planet. Our mission To lead, educate and inspire everyone to demonstrate their love for where they live. Our values Respect: we believe respect for the planet starts with respect for the neighbourhood and for each other Inclusion: everyone has the right to live and work in a place of which they can be proud whatever their culture, identity, age and wherever they live Leadership: we speak up for the environmental issues that matter to people and places and set out to lead by example Partnership: we work together with all those with a role to play, finding solutions and delivering together. A single truth underpins our success – caring for the environment is the first step to a better society We believe that... Where we live matters. Cleaner streets, neighbourhoods, beaches and parks provide the backbone for strong communities. and... How we live matters. By preserving scarce resources, wasting less and recycling more, we create a healthier society and a healthier planet too. Keep Britain Tidy is the nation’s anti-litter charity – a position developed over the past 60 years and one of which we are rightly proud. But today we are so much more. We bring together local environmental concerns – parks and green spaces, beaches and rivers, litter, streets, local environmental quality, waste reduction and recycling, communities – that together impact on health, wellbeing, crime and the wider environment. With a focus on education, behaviour change, evidence and partnership working, Keep Britain Tidy has a track record of raising standards and finding solutions on which to build. Since 2010, when the Government announced a withdrawal of central grant for a number of charities including Keep Britain Tidy, we have transformed into an independently funded organisation by working with partners and supporters to add value to their work and address their concerns. The loss of the grant has given us greater freedom to have an independent voice and to campaign for what the evidence shows is needed. This strategy sets out our aims for the next five years.
- 4. 4 5 What makes us special? Over the past 60 years we have developed our role as the leading anti-litter charity in the country and we’re proud of this fact. Our brand is recognised by nine out of every ten people. We aim to create effective and large- scale change within local environments, supporting wider success in protecting the planet. We are trusted as an expert and impartial intermediary and facilitator, helping the institutions and organisations already working on the ground to build the knowledge, skills and values through which they can effect change – whether they are a local authority, a school, a private company or a community group. As a charity we have the skills, techniques and external reach to deliver change: • We have expertise on key environmental and social issues that affect local communities and environments • We work to a theory of change that defines how we plan, develop, evidence and scale solutions to environmental problems • We have a defined model for our work that includes setting national standards, campaigning, educating, innovating and taking evidence-based approaches • We deliver valued national programmes including Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for beaches, the Green Flag Award for parks and green spaces, the Neighbourhood Awards and the Eco-Schools programme. • We operate a highly successful Business Solutions function, providing consultancy support for local authorities, service providers and other land managers • We understand behaviour change and we deliver high-profile and effective behaviour change campaigns across the country, often in partnership with others • We are at the cutting edge of innovation, successfully delivering research projects in partnership with local authorities and corporate partners • We take an evidence-based approach to the analysis of issues and the development of solutions Keep Britain Tidy is passionate about the local environment; everyone should be able to love where they live • We work with local authorities throughout England - improving street scene, enforcement, litter, waste, green space and coastal management • We work with 17,000 schools around the country through our Eco-Schools programme, supporting young people to learn about sustainability and develop as citizens of the future • We work with a range of corporate partners from many sectors to challenge and inspire them to change their working practices in support of our goals • We work with communities and volunteers, directly through our projects on the ground and through partner organisations, delivering learning, supporting action, challenging attitudes and changing behaviour
- 5. 6 7 1. Reducing littering by increasing the number of clean local places and improving local environmental quality 2. Improving local places through increasing the amount of well-managed, accessible public space and engaging more communities in their management 3. Preventing waste by increasing understanding and changing behaviours to reduce waste and improve the quality and quantity of municipal recycling levels in England Increasing people’s knowledge and changing behaviours through education will underpin our work Our goals for 2020 Delivering systematic change We recognise that, in order to be able to deliver systematic change on any scale, we must strike the right balance between innovation and meeting market needs. We will focus on impacts and added value in all our work. To ensure our approach fits the needs of the ever-changing context in which we work, we will focus on: 1. Standards and frameworks that facilitate change We already manage a number of key national standards for green space, social housing and the coastal environment. Over time these standards have supported investment and improvement of local environments. We will develop these standards so that they remain relevant while broadening their reach into other sectors. We will also seek opportunities to develop new standards where these support improvement of local environments or better management of resources. 2. Campaigns that change policy and behaviour Changing behaviour is key to engaging the public in the success of all our goals. We will seek to develop appropriate partnerships and research to understand how this can be better achieved and to provide new solutions to policy-makers, local managers and campaigners to deliver results on the ground. 3. Education through participation Providing opportunities for learning and participation are critical to achieving our goals. We will work with adults and schoolchildren to provide resources and activities that support the development of the knowledge, skills and values underpinning sustainable development. Through our Eco-Schools programme, we will continually improve the support available to teachers and children to ensure that the programme continues to deliver what they need. We will also ensure that our approach to education underpins our work with adult learners and volunteers. 4. Innovation We will develop the Keep Britain Tidy Centre for Social Innovation to build our reputation, funding and results in this area, creating new opportunities for innovative approaches to changing behaviours. It will draw on, bring together and test evidence and innovation from inside and outside the organisation. 5. Evidence-based approaches We will focus on the evidence that underpins our programmes, innovation, services and campaigns across the charity. Data and evidence of impacts will be used to inform all our work.
- 6. 8 9 Goal: Reducing litter England is a littered country and over the past decade there have been only marginal reductions in the occurrence of litter. Litter blights almost every street corner, bus stop, park bench, lay-by and road in the land and in many areas it is getting worse. Yet only 19% of the English public admit to dropping litter on a regular basis. The vast majority of people more often claim to be doing the right thing. It has gradually become more socially acceptable to drop litter and to assume land managers up and down the country will clean up after us seven days a week. At the same time, patterns of social behaviour have changed, for example in smoking, fast-food and drinking. Local authorities are under ever greater financial pressures; new forms of intervention are required and there is a real danger that frequency of litter and littering will increase. We will focus on litter because, for the public, it is central to Keep Britain Tidy’s raison d’être and because it is a headline indicator of local environmental quality. Evidence clearly shows the adverse impact of littering and poor environmental management on a range of economic and social factors including property prices, health, fear of crime, children’s freedom to play and pride of place. The correlation is marked and reinforced by the now well- evidenced ‘broken window theory’ and our own evidence that, in 2014, ten times more sites (28.4%) in the most deprived areas were ‘unacceptable’ for litter compared to the most affluent areas (2.8%). Furthermore, the costs of littering are substantial, with local authorities spending some £750m annually on street cleansing. The costs to private landowners and other public bodies are unrecorded but known to be substantial (giving an estimated direct annual cost in excess of £1bn) and an estimated further £3bn annual indirect cost of litter and littering. We can no longer afford to clean up after people – we need to prevent littering in the first place Our priorities for the next five years are: 1. Reducing littering 2. Increasing the number of clean local places Setting standards • We will work with businesses through our Litter Prevention Commitment to jointly develop new approaches and campaigns to reduce branded littering • We will work with the Clean Europe Network and other partners on a common methodology for measuring litter and to understand solutions to aquatic littering derived from land Sharing best practice and developing innovation • We will launch a Keep Britain Tidy Centre for Social Innovation to better understand littering behaviours and use design principles to deliver and evaluate interventions that prevent littering • We will advise and support local land managers on cost-effective and evidence- based approaches to reduce littering and improve local environmental quality • We will work alongside the Highways Agency to deliver its litter strategy to prevent litter and littering from vehicles Engaging and mobilising communities • We will develop and fund local volunteering interventions including the Big Tidy Up and anti-littering education campaigns in schools and to the public • We will seek funding through long- term sources such as the bag charge, to increase knowledge and leadership within communities, enabling them to take action in their local places Campaigning and influencing policy • We will demonstrate the impact and cost of litter and campaign for a Litter Strategy for England • We will work with national and European partners to address the littering challenge in the context of the Marine Strategy and Circular Economy Framework Directives and will respond to the outcomes Inspiring and educating the next generation • We will develop and fund anti-littering education campaigns in schools • We will aim to develop and fund work with school children to jointly create solutions to littering that engage young people By 2020 we will have achieved: • A shift in focus among local authorities and land managers from cleansing to prevention by working with them to introduce innovative and cost-effective approaches to reduce littering • 50 businesses working at a national level to support litter prevention through the Keep Britain Tidy Litter Prevention Commitment, with demonstrable evidence of improvement • The development of sustainable volunteering programmes around the country, supporting at least 10,000 individuals to clean up their communities • Ensure the UK’s marine litter plan takes into account the fact that 80% of marine litter is generated on the land So that nationally: • A national Litter Strategy for England has been adopted • The number of sites above an acceptable standard for litter (grade B+ as measured by the Local Environmental Quality Survey for England) is at or above 70%, without a corresponding increase in the street cleansing bill • The percentage of people who view litter as a problem in their neighbourhood reduces • Local authorities’ spending on street cleansing is reduced without a reduction in local environmental quality
- 7. 10 11 Goal: Improving local places Accessible, clean, well-managed and imaginatively designed public outdoor spaces offer a valuable resource for communities. Public space allows people to socialise, exercise, play and relax. A.considerable body of research .demonstrates that this provides a focus for the development of stronger communities and improved individual health and wellbeing. Conversely, poorly managed and maintained public space represents a significant lost opportunity where people often don’t feel safe, crime increases and there is poor economic performance. As a result, people don’t value or engage with their local open spaces as a resource for them and their communities. For a decade, considerable public sector investment has led to improvements in the quality of England’s public realm, in particular within our parks. Since 2010, however, consistent pressure on local authority budgets has presented a clear and growing threat to the quality of our public spaces and the benefits that they provide. In the face of these threats Keep Britain Tidy will become widely recognised for championing the value and contribution that public space makes to our society in terms of local economics, the local environment and the health and wellbeing of local people. We will help to maintain and improve standards. Well-managed green space is vital to healthy, happy lives Setting standards • We will increase the number of green spaces and beaches achieving Green Flag, Blue Flag, Seaside and Neighbourhood Award standards • We will develop our Green Flag Award programme beyond more traditional parks to include social housing, canals, health and further or higher education locations • We will develop our Seaside Awards as an entry level award towards achieving Blue Flag • We will develop the Keep Britain Tidy Network to include parks, green spaces and beaches Our priorities for the next five years are: 1. Increasing the amount of well-managed public space and improved access to it 2. Increasing the engagement of communities in the management of public places • We will train and support local managers and community leaders to achieve the standards • We will establish the Green Flag Award in countries outside the UK as a means of sharing best practice • We will, where appropriate, support partners and communities to meet other environmental standards where they help deliver our own goals • We will develop a new place standard for neighbourhoods to include all public spaces Engaging and mobilising communities • We will increase the active engagement and training of the public through Love Parks, providing communities with better skills to engage with and campaign for their local places • We will develop a model of community monitoring and citizen science - providing data on place quality and building a partnership between communities, local authorities and other relevant partners • We will extend our Care volunteering programmes and our work on education, neighbourhood, green space and blue space engagement throughout England • We will develop a national database of friends of parks and other green spaces groups and engage more effectively with them Sharing best practice and developing innovation • We will identify new approaches to public space management, ownership and financing • We will share our knowledge and outreach across all of our land management and user or volunteer engagement activities • We will develop a national citizen-led indicator to provide a better understanding of the state of parks and spaces across England, drawing on the Care, Eco-Schools and Love Parks programmes Campaigning and influencing policy • We will support partners’ campaigns where they clearly align with our own goals and where we have the resources to make a difference • We will develop our Love Parks campaign to become financially sustainable beyond 2016 with the support of friends groups, partners and corporate supporters Inspiring and educating the next generation • We will seek partnerships to develop innovative resources that support children to learn about and engage with improving their local places • We will help schools to network with each other and provide a local voice for children to input their views on their local environment
- 8. 12 13 By 2020 we will have achieved: • New friends groups across England (40 by 2016 and more thereafter) to support public access green spaces • An increase in the number of groups working across Keep Britain Tidy’s programmes to improve their local public space • Identified and shared new models and approaches to the management and funding of public spaces • Secured renewal of the licence and established the Green Flag Award in 15 countries • Increased the number of English beaches flying the Blue Flag and Seaside Award • Piloted a ‘Gold Flag’ standard for the management of local environments in neighbourhoods So that nationally: • There is an increase in the number of green spaces in the UK that have achieved the Green Flag Award to 1,700 • There is an increase in the number of English beaches flying the Blue Flag and/or the Seaside Award • The number of people living within a five minute walk of a quality awarded place has increased • The number of people actively engaged with the improvement of their local places and are proud of their locality has increased Innovation and education are central to successful campaigns and to on-the- ground improvement
- 9. 14 15 Goal: Preventing waste We are using up the planet’s scarce resources at an alarming rate. Our hunger for, and rapid consumption of, natural resources is having significant impacts on our environment – biodiversity loss, climate change, land use pressures and marine pollution. Businesses and government are beginning to recognise this threat to the current economic system and are moving towards a circular economy – reducing the use of resources in the first place, re-using, repairing and, at the very least, recycling materials over and over again. However, the population in general has been left out of this debate or are confused by it. Without public support for, and buy-in to, making changes in the way we consume, use and re-use products and services, the circular economy can only go so far. More than 80% of the ‘stuff’ people throw away is recyclable and recycling is the first step towards a more circular, resource- efficient economy. After steady growth, and despite good practice in many local authorities, average household recycling rates in England are flat-lining and we are now in danger of missing our European target of 50% recycled by 2020. Recycling is important, but it is an inefficient way of keeping valuable and finite materials in our economy. We must take steps to enable the prevention of waste and efficient use of resources to become the norm in England. This will take both the re-design of business models, products and services alongside the public acceptance of new and different forms of consumption that minimises material use and maximises prevention, re-use, remanufacture and repair of resources. Keep Britain Tidy will focus on the contribution of the public - the role people can play in reducing resource consumption, changing the way they consume and the way they live their lives. Despite considerable efforts to engage the public, our research shows that they are largely unaware of many of the issues and are disengaged from the process. We will achieve this goal by focusing on: • Increasing understanding and changing behaviours to prevent waste • Improving recycling levels in England - both in quality and quantity Our Ur[bin] research shows that people are sympathetic to recycling, but badly informed Setting standards • We will better understand how waste prevention, re-use or recycling quality and quantity can be improved. We will develop and pilot a standard in this area in conjunction with partners Engaging and mobilising communities • We will work to increase public understanding of the value and limits of material resources • We will engage the public more effectively in solutions to reducing resource use, developing Waste less, Live more Week into a more visible showcase for best practice in the field • We will tackle the current flat-lining in recycling rates by improving residents’ understanding and commitment and by rebuilding their trust with the waste management and disposal industry and local authorities through better communications and mutual understanding Sharing best practice and developing innovation • We will work to understand the barriers and opportunities to getting people to understand and take action to waste less and recognise resource limits • We will work with partners and apply Keep Britain Tidy’s model for social innovation to develop and scale new approaches to reducing waste Campaigning and influencing policy • We will make the case for innovative approaches to reward communities far reducing municipal waste • We will make the case for landfill tax to be spent on reducing landfill and waste once again, for example improving communications or the provision of universal food waste collections for all households in England Inspiring and educating the next generation • We will seek partnerships and funding to develop innovative resources that support children to learn about and engage with waste reduction and recycling By 2020 we will have achieved: • Increased public understanding of resource limits and the need to reduce waste • Developed and trialled influential ‘blueprint’ standards within waste management; supporting improvements to waste prevention, re-use or recycling • Developed, tested and scaled new and innovative ways of enabling people to reduce their waste and increase their recycling levels So that nationally: • At least 52% of municipal waste in England is recycled • Universal food waste collections for all households in England are introduced • The percentage of people who are committed to preventing waste increases
- 10. 16 17 We cannot achieve our goals acting in isolation National, regional and local media Third-sector organisations Waste and street cleansing contractors Water companies Government departments, think tanks and policy makers Corporates’ CSR / Litter Prevention Commitment Schools Commercial partners Local authorities Universities Commercial land managers Funders Eg. The Big Lottery Fund Housing associations Business Improvement Districts Solution- providers Community groups Supporters and volunteers Highways Agency Keep Britain Tidy Diamond Jubilee Award winners, Liverpool, February 2015 Why work with Keep Britain Tidy? • The go-to charity for litter and local environmental quality • Proven track record of programme development and management • History of high-impact, successful campaigns • High media and government profile • Established expertise and networks • Extensive evidence base • Trusted intermediary between private, public and voluntary sectors • Reach into local authorities, schools and communities • Proven initiatives to change behaviour • Training, research and survey methodology • Able to bring together partnerships for action • Making a real difference on the ground • Well-known and trusted brand • In it for the long term
- 11. 18 19 We are committed to further strenghtening our governance and the skills of our staff. We will diversify our funding to ensure that Keep Britain Tidy continues to meet its goals and to invest in development and innovation so that we can deliver our strategy Next steps Keep Britain Tidy has set out its strategy for the five years to 2020. We are committed to the strategy, which we will keep under regular review. In a time of austerity, the importance of the local environment and of individuals’ behaviour in their neighbourhoods and communities is of fundamental importance. Maintaining progress will require new partnerships, new ways of working and shared responsibility involving businesses, community organisations, central and local government, public agencies, education, NGOs and individuals committed to change. Please join us in our mission to reduce litter, improve local places and reduce waste.
- 12. 2 15-20 Strategy
- 13. enquiries@keepbritaintidy.org www.keepbritaintidy.org facebook.com/keepbritaintidy @keepbritaintidy Download our Tidy App: keepbritaintidy.org/TidyApp Printed on 100% recycled material This report was first published in 2015 by Keep Britain Tidy Copyright © 2015 Keep Britain Tidy No part of this report may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Permission will normally be given free of charge to charitable and other non-profit making organisations. Keep Britain Tidy is a registered charity. No. 1071737. Elizabeth House The Pier Wigan WN3 4EX T 01942 612621 Development House 56-64 Leonard Street London EC2A 4LT T 020 7549 0300 Keep Britain Tidy Love where you live and get involved