Archived press release

Government must improve rubbish recycling record

18 October 2004

The Government must make radical policy changes if the UK is to have a recycling record to be proud of, Friends of the Earth said today. The call coincides with the launch of The Big Recycle [1] - a week of activity to encourage the public to recycle more household waste - and comes as the amount of waste created by UK homes is on the increase. Last year the amount of extra rubbish generated was equivalent to the waste from a city the size of Birmingham.

Friends of the Earth is calling for:

• higher long-term national recycling targets. Evidence has shown that we could recycle around 60 per cent of our waste if we implemented the current best practice examples from Europe. Holland, Germany and Austria already recycle over half of their household waste [2], but the UK recycles less than 15 per cent with figures varying dramatically throughout the UK [3].

• a tax on waste that is not recycled or composted. There is a tax on landfill, but this needs to be increased and extended to cover other disposal technologies, including incineration.

• comprehensive doorstep recycling and composting collection services for every household. Last year, Friends of the Earth and Joan Ruddock MP successfully steered a Bill through Parliament which means that local authorities must provide every household with a collection of at least two materials by 2010.

• a national waste reduction target and coordinated strategy to reduce the amount of waste produced and the amount of virgin materials consumed in the UK.

Friends of the Earth's waste campaigner, Georgina Bloomfield said:

"The Government must show its commitment to expanding the amount of waste we recycle by increasing its funding to ensure that every household has access to comprehensive doorstep recycling services. Wider economic measures must also be put in place so that we can reach the standards set by our European neighbours who are already recycling over half of their domestic waste."

Recent figures show only two local authorities currently recycle over 40 per cent of waste - where they provide doorstep recycling and composting services for a wide range of materials to every home [4].

In many local authority areas less than five per cent of waste was recycled in 2002/3 [5]. In Yorkshire and Humber only seven per cent of households receive a collection for five or more materials contrasting with 43 per cent of homes in the South West [6].

A recent report by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee criticised the Government's approach to waste management and said it was unlikely to meet its target of recycling or composting a quarter of household waste by 2005 [7].

By recycling materials we can save vast amounts of energy and resources. For example, recycling an aluminium saves 95% of the energy it takes to make one from scratch.

Notes

2. Municipal Waste Management in the EU 2001 (Source: e-Digest of Environmental Statistics, February 2003) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Netherlands 59%
Austria 58%
Germany 53%
Belgium 39%
Sweden 39%
Luxembourg 36%
Denmark 32%
Spain 28%
Finland 25%
France 25%
Italy 24%
Ireland 13%
United Kingdom 13%
Greece 9%
Portugal 4%

3. Regional household waste recycling rates for 2002/03 (Source: e-Digest of Environmental Statistics, August 2004) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Household waste recycling rate by region

North East 6.6%
North West 11.2%
Yorkshire and the Humber 11.4%
East Midlands 15.2%
West Midlands 13.0%
East 19.4%
London 10.9%
South East 19.7%
South West 18.7%

4. Recycling rates from Municipal Waste Management Survey, 2002/03, Defra

Daventry District Council 44%
Lichfield District Council 43%

5. Municipal Waste Management Survey 2002/03, Defra

6. Friends of the Earth carried out a survey of recycling services offered by waste collection authorities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland between September 2003 and March 2004. Detailed research findings for each English region.

7. House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, The Departmental Annual Report 2004 Fifteenth Report of Session 2003-2004 (PDF format)

Some waste facts and figures

• We produce around 400 million tonnes of waste in England and Wales each year. 106 million tonnes of this waste is produced by industry, commerce and households. Around 30 million tonnes is from households.

• The average household produces around a tonne of waste each year. The amount of waste produced in the UK is rising every year.

• We throw out our own body weight in waste every 2 months. Each person throws away 7 times their own body weight in waste each year.

• By 2020 the amount of UK municipal waste is set to double (Government Strategy Unit)

• At least 55% of household waste is biodegradable (WRAP study Dec 2002)

• 35-40% of all household waste which ends up in landfill begins life as a purchase from one of the big five supermarkets (WRAP)

• The `ecological rucksack' (the amount of waste generated in producing every day products) is 1.5 kg for a toothbrush, 75 kg for a mobile phone and 1,500 kg for a personal computer (Wuppertal Institute)

• Nine out of ten people in England and Wales would recycle more waste if it was made easier according to an Environment Agency survey (EA Press Release 23 May 2002)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust