This means that Wales is ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland in its recycling performance and is also improving its recycling rate faster than in England – which last recorded a 33.9% recycling rate (see letsrecycle.com story) – closing the gap with England from 2.7% in 2006-07 to 1% for the third quarter of 2007-08, the last comparable period.
Seven Welsh local authorities – Monmouthshire, Isle of Anglesey, Flintshire, Wrexham, Torfaen, Ceredigion and Conwy – also recycled more than 40% of household waste in the last quarter- two years ahead of European targets.
Announcing the figures on Friday (Oct 3) Welsh Assembly environment minister, Jane Davidson, said: “I am delighted that these annual figures show steady progress in meeting our European recycling targets.
“I am pleased that the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has said all local authorities will hit the 40% target by 2009-10 and I am confident from early indications of the first quarter of 2008-09 that we are continuing to go up in the same upward direction,” she added.
Cardiff
Ms Davidson also congratulated local authorities for their work during a visit to the Lamby Way recycling site run by Cardiff city council.
She said: “Cardiff has made a great improvement and is among the top local authorities in Wales with the biggest increases in recycling and composting. Cardiff is to be commended on both its commercial food waste trial and on rolling out household food waste collections for all households across the city.
“I am delighted to I am delighted to visit this recycling site which shows how local authorities are facing up to the challenge of changing the way we look at household rubbish. We no longer think of it as waste to go to landfill – but we are now looking at what we throw away and considering whether we can recycle, re-use or reduce,” she added.
Food
Ms Davidson said that local authorities in Wales now needed to look at ways of recycling food waste to meet the next European target set for 2013.
She said: “The more we recycle and the less we throw away into landfill the greater our impact will be as individuals, communities, companies and organisation in the battle against climate change.
“This week I launched a major Assembly Government campaign to persuade people to tackle climate change by taking small steps. Recycling is another small step which can help reduce our carbon footprint”, she added.
WLGA
WLGA environment spokesperson, counillor Aled Roberts, of Wrexham, said: “Waste management has been embraced as number one priority by every Waste leader across Wales and today's results confirm that. Councils have joined forces to tackle significant waste pressures by looking at waste reduction, recycling collections and the treatment and collection of food waste.
“This year, councils are already up by more than 4% on the amount of waste they recycle or compost which places them in an excellent position to exceed the first Landfill Directive target in 2009-2010 and avoid stringent fines. Councils must continue to build on their progress and continually improve their waste reduction performance by looking at every feasible option, particularly as we look ahead to the second target year of 2013 and even further ahead to 2025.”
Leader of Cardiff council, Cllr Rodney Berman, added: “Cardiff‘s recycling and composting performance has excelled in recent years. Through massive investment and developing the infrastructure to process this waste for reuse, Cardiff council will become one of the most improved city authorities in the UK for recycling and composting.”
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