News

Moves to cut packaging waste, increase recycling and reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill are making good progress but the UK still lags behind much of the rest of Europe.

Provisional municipal waste figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for October to December 2007 reveal a 1% drop in municipal waste to 28.8 million tonnes.

The amount of rubbish going to landfill has fallen by 6% to 15.8 million tonnes. The amount of household waste recycled is now at 33.9%.

Although the full figures will not be released until November, waste minister Joan Ruddock said today's figures show recycling efforts made by local authorities and householders were making good progress.

"We still have some way to go before we are performing at the level of some of our nearest neighbours. But we are catching them up and positive feedback like this should encourage all of us to keep up the effort to reduce and recycle our rubbish."

The Local Government Association (LGA) said it was "very encouraging" to see more than a third of household waste was now being recycled and local councils deserved credit for this continuing improvement.

But Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment board said: "There is still much more to do. Britain dumps more waste into the ground than any other country in Europe.

"It is vital we look at alternatives to the status quo to deliver an ever better deal for the taxpayer."