As we work towards reducing our waste and becoming more sustainable, we’ve learned a lot, but perhaps the biggest lesson is that changing behaviour is harder than we thought.
We have made some genuine progress. Our last waste audit revealed:
- 22% reduction in overall waste
- 69% decrease in food packaging since the introduction of fresh cakes
- 50% drop in disposable hand towel waste, thanks to reusable cloths
- Soft plastics are now being recycled
- No rogue teabags in the recycling bin (yes, we’re celebrating the small wins!)
But some results from our lastest audit hit hard: over half of what we throw away is still going in the wrong bin. A staggering 59% of waste was binned incorrectly (versus just under 40% the previous year).
Initially this appeared much worse than last year, but the truth is, cake packaging was one of the few items that was being consistently correctly disposed of since we weren’t recycling soft plastic at the time. By reducing that waste stream, it skewed the comparison. When we take those items out of the equation, we’ve sadly still made no improvement, both years show around 55% of other waste wrongly disposed of.
It’s not just our visitors, our staff and volunteers are just as guilty. In fact, the worst offender was still our own kitchen recycling bin, which was 71% incorrect. The cafe counter bin wasn’t far behind at 69% and many other bins didn’t fare much better.
We did the maths and if that week represents a “typical week” we’re looking at over 28,000 wrongly binned items a year. That includes:
- 5,814 napkins
- 4,539 plastic wrappers
- 2,142 food scraps
- 2,091 wooden stirrers
- Hundreds of tissues, juice cartons, cardboard items, and more
It’s disheartening, but it’s also a wake-up call.
We’ve realised this isn’t just a systems problem; yes, our bins contribute to the issue but it’s also a people problem, one that needs education, engagement, and accountability.
In the coming months we hope to work on:
- Reassessing our bins and building consistency across the site
- Improved signage: simple, clear and easy to follow
- Changing our language: swapping “food waste” for “compostable waste” to include our takeaway cups, napkins, stirrers etc
- Engaging volunteers and staff through training
- Introducing waste information in our Visitor Centre and through our online platforms
- Exploring community campaigns to raise awareness and engage our customers
We’re also reflecting on how to make our efforts more visible. If you don’t know we care strongly about this, why would you care too? And if we’re asking you to care, you need to know why. Why is important? Where does our waste go? What happens if a bin is contaminated? Why do tissues belong in general waste, even if they’re unused?
We’ve made progress but it’s not perfect, and maybe that’s the real point. Environmental work is rarely glamorous. It’s often frustrating, messy, and slow. But we’re still here, still trying, and still determined to do better. We’ll keep trying, keep sharing, and keep inviting our community to be part of the solution.
We might still be rubbish at rubbish but we’re not giving up.