Town halls that recycle less now than 5 years ago
RECYCLING rates at nearly half of councils in England are lower now than five years ago, statistics show.
The overall rate in England has largely flatlined, up just 0.7 per cent over five years to 43.7 per cent in 2016-17.
But at 173 of the 350 English councils – which serve a total of 14million people – recycling rates have gone into reverse and are lower than five years earlier.
Moves to introduce a plastic bottle deposit return scheme – one proposed way to reduce recycling – are already in motion in Scotland.
But in England ministers say officials are still assessing how the idea would work. Environment minister Therese Coffey was asked why England is not introducing such a scheme.
‘Officials are working on this at the moment, but we have also had some experts looking at this to give us advice,’ she told BBC1’s The One Show. ‘All I’ll say is work is under way.’
A growth in incineration of waste has left some councils little incentive to recycle.
In some parts of London, around 80 per cent of rubbish is burnt at ‘energy from waste’ plants. Other reasons for the decline in recycling include confusing systems that vary from area to area – and councils cutting recycling budgets.
The largest fall in rates were seen in the North East. The West Midlands, the East Midlands, London and the East of England also showed lower recycling rates over the five-year period. The figures, analysed by the BBC’s data unit, said council spending on recycling had fallen by about 10 per cent, from £630million in 2013-14 to £569million in 2016-17.
Some experts said recycling has become a lower priority among many councils. Jennifer Glover, of the Local Government Information Unit, told the BBC: ‘When you’ve got a creaking social care system trying to look after elderly people, and children being taken into care, recycling rates are simply not a priority for many councils.’
A survey by the LGIU found only one in ten local authorities said environmental and waste issues
‘Simply not a priority’
were their greatest immediate pressure, compared with six out of ten that said adult social care and children and education services were their most pressing issues.
The Government has a target that 50 per cent of household waste will be recycled by 2020.
Margaret Bates, professor of sustainable waste management at the University of Northampton, said: ‘I’d be surprised if we get anywhere near that.
‘We’ve got some parts of the country doing well when it comes to recycling, but when it comes to areas with low rates, these places tend to be poor with transient com- munities and have lots of flats and tower blocks. In those places it’s hard to separate your waste, and we’ve done surveys that have found that the more your neighbours recycle, the more you’re likely to.’