Recycling hit amid pandemic closures

LOCKDOWN tip closures meant more than 100,000 extra tons of rubbish was sent to landfill, figures show.

The household recycling rate fell by 1.6 percentage points between 2019 and 2020, equivalent to an extra 167,000 tons of rubbish going to landfill or incineration instead, according to government data.

The report is the first time the effect of Covid lockdowns has been seen in official recycling statistics, and the biggest drop in recycling rates in at least five years.

The report said: “The effect on local authorities in England varied, but generally there were disruptions and some cancellations of kerbside collections of recycling and garden waste.”

The figures also showed a rise in plastic packaging waste, from 2.47million tons in 2019 to 2.51 million in 2021, with the recycling rate dropping from 46 to 44 per cent.

Household recycling rates fell in all four countries except Wales, the report showed, while overall households produced more than 2 per cent more waste in 2020 than in 2019.

The data suggest the Government has missed its target for 50 per cent of household waste to be recycled by 2020, with rates under target in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

In a report released earlier this year, the Government said a fall in recycling rates “reflects the impact [of] the Covid pandemic”.

Total household waste rose by half a million tons “as people spent more time at home due to lockdowns”, the report said, while recycling rates fell “due to service disruptions”.

After the national lockdown in March 2020, local authorities across the country closed recycling centres to follow rules around gathering in public places.

More recently, sites have closed due to staff shortages, with local authority bin collections cancelled or reduced because of a lack of workers.