Half of families recycle less than 50% of waste

AROUND half of households recycle less than 50 per cent of the waste they produce, say researchers.

But families blame the supermarkets for using too much packaging and encouraging them with special offers to buy more.

The poll of more than 1,000 adults by private company Renewable Energy Waste Solutions reveals that 32 per cent of people believe the amount of waste their households have produced over the past three years has increased, compared to 25 per cent who think it has declined.

Experts at REWS warned that as households produce more waste, landfill sites will struggle to cope and fly-tipping will become more widespread. Of those households who have seen a rise in the level of waste they produce, 33 per cent said it was because of shops and supermarkets encouraging them to buy more. Seven per cent say their households recycle less than 10 per cent of the waste they produce. Some 45 per cent say they recycle less than half. Just one in five think they recycle more than 75 per cent.

When asked why they fail to recycle more, 36 per cent said they did not know enough about what can be recycled. Nearly one in ten Britons said they were too busy to recycle.