Recyclenow
Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, operated by WRAP charity. It provides citizens and businesses with postcode-based Recycling and Refill Locators, an A-Z recycling guide, and Recycle Week, the flagship annual awareness campaign.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersBanbury, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Recyclenow does
Recycle Now (also styled Recyclenow) is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, launched in 2004 and operated by The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a registered UK charity (No. 1159512) headquartered at Ground Floor, Blenheim Court, 19 George Street, Banbury. The organization helps individuals, households, businesses, and local authorities reduce waste and recycle more by providing digital tools and educational content centred on correct recycling behaviour, and it does not operate as a commercial enterprise.
Its product portfolio is anchored by the Recycling Locator Tool, a postcode-based web application that tells users what they can recycle at home and surfaces nearby bring banks, recycling centres, and drop-off points; the tool was used over 6.5 million times in 2021. Adjacent products include the Refill Locator (a postcode-based tool for finding refill points for dry goods such as rice, pasta, and grains), a comprehensive A-Z recycling guide covering hundreds of household items, a content hub with material-specific how-to articles and contamination-reduction guidance, a Workplace Recycling Support module aligned with the UK Government's Simpler Recycling legislation, and an embeddable widget licenced to third-party websites. The annual Recycle Week campaign, now in its 23rd year (2025) with the 'Rescue Me' creative featuring animated recyclable characters, is the flagship awareness initiative.
Recycle Now does not sell to end users and operates on a non-commercial, charity-funded model. Revenue mechanics consist of donations from national brands and retailers, UK Government grants, and contributions from trusts and foundations channelled through WRAP. The go-to-market motion is community-led public education rather than sales, supported by a website, social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube), earned media, and partnerships with local authorities, retailers (Boots, Holland & Barrett, Superdrug), waste managers, and third-party schemes (Podback, TerraCycle, recycle:me, Valpak/Recycle More).
Recyclenow firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Recyclenow
- Legal name
- The Waste and Resources Action Programme
- Website
- https://recyclenow.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, operated by WRAP charity. It provides citizens and businesses with postcode-based Recycling and Refill Locators, an A-Z recycling guide, and Recycle Week, the flagship annual awareness campaign.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Recyclenow industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Public Recycling Campaign and Education
- NAICS
- Materials Recovery Facilities (562920), Materials Recovery Facilities (56292), Waste Collection (56211)
- SIC
- Refuse Systems (4953)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Post-Consumer Plastic Collection & Sorting (MRF/PRF, Bale Supply) (EUAIAKAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- On-site Recycling Programs (Single-Stream, Source-Separated) (BPABALAB), Source-Separated Recyclables Collection (Dual/Single-Stream) (EUAIAAAN), Consumer E-waste Collection & Take-Back Programs (EUAIAIAA)
Keywords
Where Recyclenow is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Banbury
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Recyclenow business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Funding and Donations: Recycle Now is funded by various sources including donations from national brands and retailers, Government grants, and trusts and foundations. As a campaign brand of WRAP (a registered UK charity), the organization does not generate direct revenue but operates through charitable funding.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Recyclenow product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, operated by charity WRAP, providing citizens with postcode-based digital tools (Recycling Locator, Refill Locator) and educational content (A-Z recycling guide, how-to articles) to identify recyclable household items, find nearby recycling and refill points, and reduce contamination. The campaign includes the flagship annual Recycle Week event and workplace compliance guidance for businesses transitioning to the Government's Simpler Recycling legislation.
Product overview
Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, operated by charity WRAP. Its product portfolio centres on a suite of digital tools and educational resources: the core Recycling Locator Tool (used over 6.5 million times in 2021) and Refill Locator, both postcode-based search tools; the comprehensive Recycle an Item A-Z Guide covering hundreds of household items; the How to Recycle Content Hub with articles and material-specific guides; and the Workplace Recycling Support module for business compliance with Simpler Recycling legislation. The annual Recycle Week Campaign (now in its 23rd year) is the flagship awareness initiative, supported by the 'Rescue Me' educational campaign featuring animated recyclable characters. An embeddable Recycling Locator Widget is available for third-party licensing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Recycling Locator Tool
Quantifiable outcome
- 88% of UK residents regularly recycle (Recycle Week 2025)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Recyclenow
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Recyclenow technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Recyclenow partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme)coreRecycle Now is one of the citizen-facing brands brought to by WRAP, a charity working across six continents with governments, businesses and citizens to create a world where resources are sourced and used sustainably. WRAP operates Recycle Now as its national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland.
- Brands and RetailerssupportingFunding and marketing partnerships with national brands and retailers who support the Recycle Now campaign. Funding comes from donations from national brands and retailers, Government grants, and trusts and foundations.
- Local AuthoritiescorePartnerships with local authorities across England and Northern Ireland to provide accurate kerbside collection information through the Recycling Locator tool. Local authorities update scheme data via WRAP's LA Portal tool.
- Waste Management CompaniessupportingCollaborative partnerships with waste management companies to bring about real sustainable change and improve recycling infrastructure and services.
- GovernmentcorePartnership with Government bodies to deliver recycling campaigns and support legislation such as Simpler Recycling workplace recycling requirements. Funding includes Government grants.
- Government (Simpler Recycling Legislation)coreFrom April 2025, all businesses and non-domestic premises in England with more than 10 full time equivalent staff will be required to separate their dry recyclable and food waste from residual waste as part of the Government's Simpler Recycling legislation. Recycle Now provides guidance for businesses on this transition.
- Boots, Holland & Barratt, SuperdrugsupportingBeauty and grooming packaging take-back schemes through selected retailers. These retailers offer collection points for beauty and grooming packaging currently not accepted in home recycling schemes, with some offering loyalty reward points as incentives.
- recycle:mesupportingDoorstep collection service for hard-to-recycle plastic beauty packaging available UK-wide. Operated by THG (The Hut Group) as an alternative recycling option for consumers.
- PodbacksupportingNot-for-profit recycling service for plastic and aluminium coffee pods and capsules. Offers drop-off points at local authority recycling centres, supermarkets, and coffee shops across the UK.
- Valpak (Recycle More)supportingData supplier for Recycling Centres and bring banks information. Data is supplied by UK local authorities to Valpak via the Recycle More website, which then feeds into the Recycling Locator tool.
- TerraCyclesupportingTerraCycle's Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme provides an alternative recycling route for crisp packets, which are not currently recyclable in home recycling collections.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Recyclenow competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Valpak: Compliance scheme operator that supplies the underlying recycling-location data powering Recycle Now's locator. Comparable as the data-infrastructure partner for citizen-facing recycling information and a direct compliance and recycling-services peer.
- TerraCycle: Operator of specialist take-back schemes (e.g., crisp packets) integrated with Recycle Now. Directly comparable as a hard-to-recycle consumer collection partner with brand-funded recycling schemes and citizen-facing drop-off networks.
Emerging players
- Recycle Coach: Personalised recycling-search and education tool used by North American municipalities. Comparable citizen-facing recycling guidance product with the same 'what can I recycle and where' use case as Recycle Now's locator and A-Z guide.
- Circularity Scotland: Scotland's deposit-return scheme operator. Comparable as a UK policy-adjacent organisation operating in the same citizen-recycling behaviour-change space and competing for the same behaviour-change attention as Recycle Now's campaigns.
- Podback: Not-for-profit coffee pod recycling scheme partnered with Recycle Now. Comparable as a UK citizen-facing specialist recycling take-back scheme that relies on awareness campaigns and drop-off networks similar to Recycle Now's role.
- ReCollect Systems: Provider of white-label waste and recycling apps for municipalities and haulers. Comparable as a recycling-locator and education platform sold to local authorities — an indirect competitor/substitute for Recycle Now's Locator tooling.
Regional players
- Zero Waste Scotland: Scotland's national behaviour-change and recycling advisory body. Comparable to Recycle Now as a publicly-funded national campaign with a recycling-locator-style service and consumer-education remit, serving the Scottish population.
- Recycle for Scotland (Changeworks): Scottish recycling campaign site delivering household recycling guidance and behaviour-change content. Directly comparable as a sister national campaign offering the same citizen-education utility as Recycle Now for Scottish consumers.
- Wales Recycles: The Welsh national recycling campaign offering recycling guidance, a recycling locator, and behaviour-change campaigns. Directly comparable as a parallel regional national campaign with the same citizen-facing mission under a different UK nation.
Broad incumbents
- WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme): Recycle Now's parent charity and the operator behind the national campaign. WRAP is directly comparable as the umbrella body running other national programmes across food surplus, textiles, and plastics that share audiences and government relationships.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Recyclenow social profiles
Digital presenceRecyclenow financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Recyclenow leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Recyclenow funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Recyclenow M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Recyclenow
What does Recyclenow do?
Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, operated by charity WRAP, providing citizens with postcode-based digital tools (Recycling Locator, Refill Locator) and educational content (A-Z recycling guide, how-to articles) to identify recyclable household items, find nearby recycling and refill points, and reduce contamination. The campaign includes the flagship annual Recycle Week event and workplace compliance guidance for businesses transitioning to the Government's Simpler Recycling legislation.
Is Recyclenow a public or private company?
Recyclenow is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Recyclenow founded?
Recyclenow was founded in 2004. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Recyclenow based?
Recyclenow is headquartered in Banbury, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Recyclenow make money?
One revenue line is on record: funding and Donations.
Who are Recyclenow's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Valpak and TerraCycle. Emerging players are Recycle Coach, Circularity Scotland, Podback and ReCollect Systems. Regional players are Zero Waste Scotland, Recycle for Scotland (Changeworks) and Wales Recycles. WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Recyclenow have an API?
No public API is recorded for Recyclenow.
What industry is Recyclenow in?
Recyclenow's product category is Public Recycling Campaign and Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAIAKAA, Post-Consumer Plastic Collection & Sorting (MRF/PRF, Bale Supply), with a secondary code of BPABALAB, On-site Recycling Programs (Single-Stream, Source-Separated). Its NAICS code is 562920 and its SIC code is 4953.