Ever scratch your head reading your local recycling rules? Do you ever just throw waste into the recycling and hope for the best?

Scrapp is here to change that.

They’re young, scrappy (see what we did there?) and extremely passionate about recycling. Their mission? To help individuals, communities, and businesses waste less by recycling right. And this is done all with their handy app, called Scrapp.

So, who is Scrapp?

Scrapp is a platform with a purpose, on a mission to reduce global waste by helping people recycle correctly.

Just like Modern Milkman, Scrapp believes that small actions make a difference, and that collectively, we can all build a sustainable future. For them, that means reusing the world’s precious resources and wasting less.

Their easy-to-use app takes the guesswork out of recycling, and automatically updates to your council’s local recycling rules – no matter where you are in the UK. This means no more wish-cycling (aka placing whatever you have in the recycling bin in the hopes that it’ll be recycled), and no more recycling contamination (we’ll get to that later).

Instead, more waste is reused, and less is going into landfills and ending up in the ocean. Woohoo!

Why recycling is so confusing

It only takes driving to a different council area to understand why recycling is so confusing. Every area has different bins, different waste infrastructure, and with it, completely different rules for what to recycle. From bins to sacks to boxes, the question, ‘how do I recycle?’ ends up with a billion different answers.

But why is this a problem?

For starters, it’s estimated that the world produces more than 2 billion tonnes of household waste a year. Combine that with the staggering fact that 94% of waste goes into landfills and the ocean, and it’s not hard to see we have a BIG waste problem.

While cutting down on plastic and opting for plastic free items is the obvious choice, we still come into contact with unnecessary packaging and waste every day.

And as much as we’d all love to live in a waste-free world, there’s still a lot of work to do to get there.

That’s why actions like recycling are important. Instead of throwing away materials that’ll end in landfills and oceans for thousands of years, recycling gives them a new life.

So, what’s the issue with recycling?

Around 56% of Brits find the recycling rules complicated, with one in five unconfident about finding up-to-date rules for their local area.

And this makes sense, considering the rules change according to each council, down to what colour bin you put your recycling in.

This confusion then makes it easier to put your waste in the wrong bin, which then creates contamination.

While it may not seem like a big deal, contamination is the primary cause of recyclable materials ending up in landfill. That’s why it’s so important to put the right items into their correct bin.

So how do you make recycling simple and easy to follow? The answer is Scrapp.

The Scrapp Story

The idea for a recycling app started when Scrapp’s co-founders, Dan, Evan and Mikey were still in university. They were frustrated by the lack of clear guidance showing how to sort packaging correctly, and noticed there was a lot of recycling contamination, which cost the university thousands of pounds.

Once they graduated, they decided there needed to be a better way for people to know what recycling goes where, so they spent the next three years developing the app, Scrapp.

They told Pebble Magazine, ‘Whilst we realise that the plastic crisis isn’t the consumer’s fault, we’re passionate about making them feel like they can be part of the solution. We’re also seeking to work with brands in the future and use our packaging insights to help them to clean up their act.’

The Scrapp App

Just download the app on the App Store or Google Play and see how easy recycling can be.

Once you’ve created an account and selected your location you can start scanning your items. Just click the ‘Scan’ icon at the bottom of the screen.

After scanning your items barcode, it’ll tell you what bin it should go in. If the item isn’t a part of their database, all you have to do is fill out a few details and then it’ll tell you how to recycle it.

The app is relatively new, so you can help them grow by adding new items to the database. For each new item you add to Scrapp, they also reward you by removing ocean-bound plastic pollution.

Making an Impact

Since Scrapp was launched, they’ve helped people recycle over 11 thousand items and save over 204 kg of CO2. That’s amazing! And it’s all because people like you want to make a difference.

Because it all starts with just one person. And another. And another. The more people decide they want to make a change, the bigger the change becomes!

Take our milkrounds for example. On average, our customers save about 100 plastic bottles a year from entering landfill. Now that’s just one customer. Imagine if a whole neighbourhood joined our milk round. What about an entire city? The more people decide to make a small change, the bigger the change becomes, and soon you’re creating a more sustainable world to live in.

Want to join the fight against waste? Begin your milkround and start counting the amount of plastic you prevent from entering our oceans.

Already signed up and enjoying our scrumptiously sustainable produce? Good for you! Have you tried referring us to your loved ones to further increase your positive impact? Remember, recommending your milkround is mending the planet!