New campaign aims to rescue our waste from landfill, as 79% of UK households still throw away items that could be recycled. 

WRAP, the global environmental action non-governmental organisation (NGO), is bringing circular living into homes across the UK with the launch of its new TV campaign, ‘Rescue Me, Recycle’, airing across Sky channels from the 13^th of April. The campaign is designed to inspire people to recycle more and therefore accelerate the shift towards a better use of our resources.

Despite strong intent, recycling behaviours remain inconsistent. WRAP’s latest research reveals that while 89% of UK households regularly recycle, 79% admit to throwing away at least one item that could have been recycled, with the average household typically missing two to three items that could have been recycled.  Confidence about what can and cannot be recycled also remains low, with just 9% of people feeling “very confident” about what can be recycled.

WRAP secured £200,000 in advertising through Sky Media’s multi-award-winning Sky Zero Footprint Fund, which provides £2 million in media value to support organisations driving environmental change. WRAP is the winner of the Fund’s Catalyst Category, which was created to support charities and not-for-profits that deliver meaningful impact but often face barriers to scaling awareness.

Produced with creative agency, Among Equals, the ‘Rescue Me, Recycle’ campaign tackles one of the biggest barriers to recycling: confidence in what and how to recycle. By personifying commonly binned household items, such as toilet roll tubes, perfume bottles and aerosols, the campaign gives them human traits, emotions and voices, inspiring people to care for them more and reframing recycling as an act of ‘rescue’.

The high-impact 30” TV advert brings one of these characters to life with humour and emotion, showing the ‘dreams’ of a discarded toilet roll and the fate they face if they are not recycled. By making everyday objects relatable and memorable, the campaign aims to connect with people who don’t care that much about recycling and inspire them to recycle more. 

The advertising campaign, designed to reach households, supports the long running Recycle Now campaign that runs across social media and other digital channels and culminates in the annual Recycle Week - this year taking place from Monday 14 to Sunday 20 September - when additional ‘Rescue Me’ characters bring to life other recyclable items commonly binned. Supported by collaborations with government, councils, retailers and manufacturers, Recycle Week brings the nation together for a week to drive lasting changes in recycling behaviours. The urgency of this shift is clear: the products we consume often have a harmful impact on a planet already at tipping point, but recycling just one additional toilet roll tube per household each week could save enough energy to power over 26,000 homes for a year. And that one small action can lead to more impactful and sustained changes in recycling and reuse behaviour.

David Wilson, Communications Director at WRAP said: “We've just seen one of the largest reforms to recycling in England with Simpler Recycling, and this advert reminds people everywhere that they can play their part in using our precious resources more sustainably. WRAP is on a mission to embed circular living into every board room and every home, and we are incredibly grateful to the Sky Zero Footprint Fund for giving us the opportunity to scale and help give even more recyclable items a second life. If everyone recycles just one more item correctly, it’ll create positive impact.”

Meg Jordan, Creative Strategy Director at Among Equals, said: "Recycling has a confidence problem, not an awareness one. People know they should do it - 89% already are. The 79% who are still binning recyclables aren't ignorant, they're uncertain. Behavioural science tells us that empathy is one of the most powerful drivers of action - so rather than hit people with more information, we made them feel something. We took the items ending up in the wrong bin and gave them a personality, a platform, and an audience. The strength of the idea is in its simplicity. By giving recyclables a voice and a sense of humour, we put the items people forget about firmly in the foreground. Turns out, even toilet rolls have a story to tell." 

Fiona Ball, Group Director, Bigger Picture and Sustainability at Sky, said:“WRAP’s ‘Rescue Me, Recycle’ campaign shows the power of creativity and data‑driven media to turn good intentions into real-world impact. Through the Sky Zero Footprint Fund, we’re proud to support advertising that makes more sustainable choices simpler, more engaging and accessible for households at scale.”

The campaign will air across Sky channels from the 13^th of April, with a larger burst planned later in the year to align with WRAP’s national Recycle Week. Using Sky’s data-led targeting capabilities, the campaign will reach relevant audiences at scale to drive measurable impact, improving recycling accuracy, increasing capture rates and supporting the UK’s transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.

Media contacts 

MikeWorldWide 

skymedia@mww.com

Izzy Brantingham / Kareena Garg