Crackdown on the chaos of recycling

All councils must use same system within 4 years

COUNCILs will be forced to end the chaos of different recycling rules within four years.

all town halls will soon recycle the same core categories of household waste, the Government announced yesterday.

what can and cannot be put out currently varies from postcode to postcode. Research last year found that there are 39 different sets of rules used by local authorities across the UK.

However, from 2023 all councils must recycle glass bottles and jars; paper and card; plastic bottles, including drinks and milk containers; plastic pots, tubs and trays; and steel and aluminium tins and cans.

all detergent, shampoo and cleaning containers will also have to be recycled. at present, councils in england follow a target to recycle 50 per cent of waste by next year – one they will not meet.

while nearly every home can have plastic bottles recycled, only 10 per cent will have plastic plant pots collected.

The Government has also said it will ensure that all households have a separate food waste collection by 2023, with kitchen scraps picked up weekly from all homes, including flats.

alongside making weekly food waste collections mandatory, the Government said it will consider whether nonrecyclable rubbish should be collected at least every other week, in the face of some councils moving to threeweekly pick-ups. The new recycling system is part of a barrage of measures aiming to clean up the country.

a plastic bottle deposit return scheme will be introduced to england by 2023, the Government also vowed yesterday. It revealed that the scheme was backed by 84 per cent of the 208,000 people who responded to a recent consultation. The ‘deposit return scheme’ for england, wales and Northern Ireland, which will charge customers a levy on plastic bottles that is paid back when returned for recycling, has yet to be finalised. But the Government said it could apply to containers up to three litres – bringing it closer to the ‘allin’ scheme campaigners want, and which is planned for scotland – rather than a more limited system focusing only on smaller bottles and cans.

The Daily Mail has called for a deposit return scheme to cut the tide of plastic pollution.

Meanwhile the Government also vowed to force packaging producers to cover the cost of disposal, and encourage more recyclable products.

environment secretary Michael Gove said: ‘ The measures in our environment Bill will position the UK as a world leader, ensuring that after eU exit, environmental ambition and accountability are placed more clearly than ever before at the heart of government.’

‘Position UK as a world leader’