The English household waste recycling rate crept up to 44.7 per cent in 2014/15, while the municipal waste recycling rate remained just below 43 per cent, according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) today (1 December).

The former figure represents an increase of just 0.2 per cent from the 2013/14 rate of 44.5 per cent. In total, 42.9 per cent of all waste collected by English local authorities was recycled in 2014/15, which is 0.3 per cent higher than England’s figure for 2013/14 (42.6 per cent), and is well below Wales’s 56 per cent rate for the same 12-month period.

Current EU targets require the UK to recycle at least 50 per cent of household waste by 2020, but since 2011/12, the English rate has improved by only 1.5 per cent.

In terms of disposal, local authority (LA) collected waste, including that from households, street bins, street sweepings and parks, sent to landfill fell by 20 per cent in 2014/15. This was balanced by an increase of 25 per cent in waste sent for energy recovery through incineration.

The financial year 2014/15 marks the first time that the amount of waste sent to incineration exceeded the amount of waste disposed by landfill, at 7.8 million tonnes and 6.4 million tonnes respectively.

For the calendar year 2014, household waste recycling rose to 44.8 per cent from 44.2 per cent, with the tonnage of both organic and dry recycling increasing (organic by 9.6 per cent and dry by 2.3 per cent). This was negated, however, by the overall increase in waste generated by households. In 2014, 22.4 million tonnes of household waste was produced, an increase of 3.7 per cent on 2013 levels. This equates to 413 kilogrammes per person.

Local authorities

Household waste recycling rates at a local authority level ranged from 14 to 67 per cent in 2014/15.

South Oxfordshire District Council recorded the highest rate for the second consecutive year, improving on its 2013/14 figure of 65.7 per cent to register a 67.3 per cent rate in 2014/15. The neighbouring Vale of White Horse Council came second with 65.6 per cent, with Rochford District Council in Essex third with 65.2 per cent.

Trafford Council was the top performing urban LA, with 61.9 per cent, just beating its neighbour Stockport Council, which registered 60.7 per cent.

Also notable was Ashford Borough Council, which continued its rapid rate of increase from 2012, when it registered a rate of just 12 per cent. The LA’s 55 per cent figure for 2014/15 represents a 43 percentage point rise in just two years and a 13 percentage point increase from last year.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly had the lowest household waste recycling rate in the country (14 per cent). The LA, which consists of six small islands, has no collection system and no processing capacity. Until earlier this year it did operate a 3,700 tonnes-a-year capacity incinerator, which was found to breach EU safety levels. The council has now closed the facility, and intends to replace it with cleaner disposal methods.

On the English mainland, Newham London Borough Council and Lewisham Borough Council both recorded national-low rates of 17 per cent.

Defra still working towards 50 per cent target

A Defra spokesman said: “These latest figures show the amount of waste going to landfill fell 20 per cent last year, and the waste from households recycling rate was up on last year. This reflects hard work by local authorities and a desire from people to recycle more.

“We remain committed to building on this success and recycling 50 per cent of our household waste by 2020 and will continue to support local authorities’ and WRAP’s efforts to promote recycling.”

Last month, Gev Eduljee, External Affairs Director at waste management company SUEZ, wrote exclusively for Resource that England could learn from the example set by Wales. Harmonisation of collection systems, a priority of Resources Minister Rory Stewart currently being investigated by a steering group, is among the measures that he suggests England could take to push up the recycling rate.

SUEZ has also released a report in September suggesting ways that the English recycling rate could be boosted. ‘At this rate… Exploring England’s recycling challenges’ highlighted less frequent collections and an enforced ‘pay-as-you-throw’ scheme as effective ways to meet EU targets.

Defra’s report on local authority waste data is available at the department’s website.