Meet the Waste 101 Masterminds

If you want to learn more about waste processing systems, where different materials go and how to improve your recycling, watch the Waste 101 - Waste and Recycling Mastermind. 

Filmed with a live audience this resolves the confusion around waste and recycling, identifies how you can manage your bins better and engage people with behaviour change techniques. 

The content was prepared to be relevant for businesses, events and individuals who want to geek out on waste, plastics and ‘do the right’ thing. 

Livvy Drake

Sustainability and Behaviour Change Consultant

Emilie Woodger-Smith 

Waste and Sustainable Lifestyle Consultant

What was your motivation to work with waste and recycling? ​

I had always been an avid recycler growing up, but it wasn’t till I was living in Australia and I was in awe of nature and countryside there that I started getting frustrated by litter and waste.

​When I came back to the UK I noticed how much more single-use packaging people were using and recycling and my quest to address waste began from there. 

I was inspired at university to work in waste when someone said “There’s one thing you can guarantee, there will always be waste”. I remember loving the thought of how it united everyone; we all have to deal with recycling and waste, in all areas of our lives, whether we like it or not!

​I also love a good bin rummage!! I definitely don’t have a weak stomach and find it so interesting how much you can find out just by looking at what someone throws away! If you want to start living more sustainably, start by looking in your bins!

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What is your experience with waste and recycling? 

In my personal life, I have lived plastic-free, I host an annual Lent Plastic Challenge.

​In my professional life, I have worked on waste systems for events and festivals as well as working on behaviour change campaigns to tackle plastics and food waste. More recently I have been doing plastics and waste audits for businesses- with Emilie in fact. ​

I specialised my degree in waste management and wrote a recycling behaviour change thesis that won me an award from CIWM.

From there I went on to work for an international waste company on their waste education campaigns and an environmental consultancy where I helped roll out a national waste audit project. Most recently I have been working for a L.A to improve recycling.

​In my personal life I run a sustainable lifestyle blog and instagram account where I share what I do day to day to live more sustainably and have most recently worked with Mooncup on their #realmooncupusers campaign, encouraging people who mensturate to go reusable. 
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What are the common mistakes that you see? ​​

At events and in businesses its the signage on bins- unclear, in the wrong place and using terms like general waste or dry mixed recycling which is meaningless to most.

For household recycling it’s got to be contamination or as I like to call it “wish-cycling”. This is when people just chuck something in,, hoping it can be recycled and in actual fact it can’t and it causes real problems as contamination. ​

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What is your one example of recycling best practice?

As many separate bins as possible to segregate recycling streams with signage on the tops of bins that is pictorial and relevant to the location 
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Washing your materials out before recycling, ensuring there is no food waste that can spoil a load.

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 What makes you blow your bin lid? 

The fact that there is no producer responsibility to ensure designed products have a recycling stream to go into. Items are put onto the market without knowing where they will end up, which includes bioplastic which are my pet hate for Greenwash!

When people say “It’s not my job to recycle” and don’t take responsibility for their waste.. If you bought it, you’re responsible for it! 
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What gives you hope? ​

Circular economy thinking which is built on the premise that items stay in use for as long as possible and are designed without hazardous chemicals and are in fact regenerative to society and the planet.

People. Everyone who I speak to about waste (even the “it’s not my job” people) are interested in it, where it goes, what happens to it and that gives me hope that as a nation, we really do care about our planet, even it we do have to be reminded sometimes.

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If you want to learn more about waste processing systems, where different materials go and how to improve your recycling, watch the Waste 101- Waste ad Recycling Mastermind.
If  you want to start living more sustainably, start by looking in your bins!