News

Waste collection and recycling in England has risen and the amount of rubbish being sent to landfill has fallen, but the UK still lags behind the rest of Europe.

Total collected municipal waste increased by 1.4% to 29.1 million tonnes in 2006/7, according to figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The statistics were not broken down into constituent parts, such as packaging.

Almost 42%, or 12.2 million tonnes, of collected municipal waste had value (recycling, composting, energy from waste and fuel manufacture) recovered from it, up from 10.7 million tonnes in the previous year.

The proportion of municipal waste being recycled or composted climbed from 27.1% to 30.7%.

Waste incinerated with energy recovery also rose by 1% to 11% in 2006/7.

Meanwhile, the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill decreased by 4% to 16.9 million tonnes.

Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, said he was pleased to see recycling rates exceed 30% for the first time.

However, he said Britain was still the "dustbin of Europe" and threw more rubbish into landfill than any other country in the EU.

"Councils and council tax payers are still facing fines of up to £3bn if we do not dramatically reduce the amount of waste thrown into landfill, and so it is vital we look at alternatives to the status quo," he said.

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OTHER FINDINGS
• Britain's households accounted for 89%, or 25.9 million tonnes, of municipal waste, which amounts to around 509kg per person each year.

• The proportion of household rubbish recycled (including composting) rose from 26.7% to 30.9%.

• In absolute terms, the amount of household waste sent for recycling or composting has increased by 17% to 8 million tonnes.

• 17.9 million tonnes of waste, or 352kg of collected residual household waste per person, was not re-used, recycled or composted, even though this was 4.2% less than 2005/6.

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