Ted Says – tackling recycling contamination from disposable nappies

Launched with nine local authorities, the #TedSays campaign aims to stem the tide of millions of disposable nappies contaminating thousands of tonnes of recycling.

Overview & Objective

Working with nine local authorities across the country, Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Ted Says’ campaign aimed to stem the tide of millions of disposable nappies that are contaminating thousands of tonnes of recycling and called on the disposable nappy industry to support the call for clarity.

The campaign was built upon previous research that revealed that seven per cent of nappy users – parents, grandparents and carers – wrongly put their disposable nappies in with their recycling, which equates to more than one million people.

The survey, carried out by YouGov, also revealed that younger people, aged 18-24 were more likely to put them in their recycling bin (15%) and more than one in ten Londoners who used disposable nappies (11%) tried to recycle them.

Approach

The campaign, fronted by ‘Ted’ and run in partnership with Buckinghamshire Council, Dorset Council, Durham County Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Leicestershire County Council, Milton Keynes Council, North London Waste Authority, Suffolk Waste Partnership and Wigan Council appeared on billboards around the country and on social media to drive the message home. The campaign was launched by partners to their 7.5 million residents in March 2021 at the same time Keep Britain Tidy launched the campaign nationally.

Outcome

To date, #TedSays has reached 692,000 people on social media and 7.7millon people through press.

When exposed to the campaign, up to 85% of households contaminating with nappies then stopped.
The campaign has also facilitated conversations with manufacturers about future initiatives to reduce confusion about the recyclability of nappies