Cleaning-up Serbia: Designing and delivering a public campaign with over 200,000 volunteers

Introduction

Here are some rubbish facts that you can recycle!

According to Eurostat, the EU-27 average household waste per person is 406kg. The UK has the second highest level of waste at 712 kg – behind Portugal (743kg). Other nations like Denmark (577 kg), Spain (496 kg) and Italy (438kg) have above-average waste levels. (However, watch out - Eurostat’s data may itself be rubbish!  Defra has calculated that UK household waste averaged only 457kg in 2009-10!)

Talking about waste, this also represents a major waste of tax money - the cost of domestic waste in the UK is estimated to be over £1.3 billion a year.

Brits are also rubbish outside their houses!  In the United Kingdom it costs £885 million a year to clean up the rubbish that we leave on our streets, parks, and playgrounds. This rubbish makes our social areas look dreadful, which means that people are less likely to use them – which in turn sends a negative signal to people that it’s OK to dump waste and litter there, or to behave there as badly as you like. 

But it doesn’t have to be like this! A national initiative in Serbia has attracted 280,000 volunteers and made major savings, while at the same time educating and engaging citizens to clean up their litter, reduce excessive waste, and improve how they separate and recycle the waste they create.

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