The Big Recycling Survey

In summer 2025, we ran a quick survey for residents of Greater Manchester about your waste behaviours. We wanted to find out what you know about waste, why you recycle and what makes it difficult. This information will help us improve our communications.

We asked 10 questions that explored your relationship with the stuff you throw away, your bins at home, as well as wider waste services such as recycling centres. There were also questions about your understanding of the waste hierarchy, which demonstrates that reuse and repair are even better for the environment than simply recycling at home.

In the end, we received almost 9,000 responses from across Greater Manchester. This has provided us with so much rich data that will help shape the future of waste across our city-region.

It’s clear lots of people in Greater Manchester care about recycling.

Your answers showed us why you recycle with environmental benefits being the most common motivator. Over half of you stated that recycling at home had positive impacts for your local community.

In terms of barriers, around 30% of respondents said they don’t always know what goes in each bin. A follow-up question showed items such as batteries, crisp packets and ripped clothing were the items most residents get wrong.

Because we received so many responses, analysing the data has taken a bit longer than expected.

As part of the survey, we asked some demographic questions, this has given us lots of information about who is more comfortable recycling and who might need a bit more support. We’ve been able to target some of our communications at residents who live in flats and people between the ages of 18-24.

There was a lot of appetite to recycle more items at home. This isn’t always possible, but we’ve increased our communications about recycling at locations out of home such as takeback schemes in shops.

Want to know more about recycling? Follow us at @Recycle4gm and check out https://recycleforgreatermanchester.com/