The findings also show that recycling and composting is beginning to stall in South East England; far too few councils in London are making the progress expected; South West and Yorkshire and Humberside councils made steady progress; the North West saw good progress; the North East still lags behind; the West Midlands is gathering pace; and the biggest leap was seen in the East Midlands.
Mr Bradshaw said: “The local authority and residents in St Edmundsbury are collectively doing more than any others in the country, notching up recycling and composting rates comparable to those on the continent.”
The full table of recycling performances is as reported by letsrecycle.com in December 2005 and can be seen at recycling league tables. Defra’s confirmation of the data for England comes after delays within the Audit Commission and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
– Ben Bradshaw, local environment quality minister
Praise for East of England
The department gave emphasis to regional progress with special praise for the East of England. It noted that “people in the East of England continue to lead the way, with residents in St Edmundsbury (50.6%), Forest Heath (48.6%) and South Cambridgeshire (46.8%) helping the region recycle and compost nearly 30% (29.8%) of its waste.
“Broadland, Babergh and Chiltern have the highest rates of dry recycling (excluding composting) in the country. For example Broadland, with the highest rate of dry recycling in the country, recycles 38.3% of household waste.”
The lowest amount of recycling took place in the North East (16.4%) followed closely by London (17.7%) with residents in Newham (6.2%), Tower Hamlets (7.4%) and Liverpool (7.6%) recycling the least.
The most improved authorities – Harborough, Cherwell and Vale Royal – experienced dramatic improvements, with percentage point increases of 31.1, 24.7 and 24.6 respectively.
Mr Bradshaw, said: “The rate of progress in the East of England in general is outstanding – and all the more impressive given that in England we have traditionally relied on landfill – something which has left us some way behind our European neighbours in the amounts we recycle.
Not making progress
“Nevertheless, it is disappointing that some authorities are not making the kind of progress we all expect. People really want to recycle, but we must make it easy for them. Local authorities therefore have to work even harder to make that happen and help our budding recycling culture to continue to flourish.”
The minister added that the Government wants to ensure that each authority plays its part in improving England's national recycling rate. Defra noted the recent consultation, which closed last week, on recycling targets for 2007/08 sought views on the government's strategy on engaging with poor performers. It suggested approaches such as regular ministerial accountability, action planning and implementing formal recovery programmes
North East
The North East region of England continues to lag behind the rest of the country. Despite householders in the region recycling ever higher levels of household waste (such as paper, glass, cans, kitchen and garden waste) in 2004/05, recycling rates are the lowest in the country at 16.4%.
Residents in Castle Morpeth are the best in the region, recycling over 28% of their rubbish. Residents there also made the biggest leap in the region: recycling and composting rose from 14.6% in 2003/04 to 28.2%, a gain of 13.6 percentage points. They contributed to an overall improvement in the region after residents notched up a 3.5% percentage point increase on last year.
South East
Recycling and composting in the South East is beginning to stall, according to Defra.
The 2004/05 data shows that householders in the region are recycling ever higher levels of household waste such as paper, glass, cans, kitchen and garden waste.
Defra said: “The region also had one of the lowest levels of improvement in the country: residents recycled and composted 26% of their waste in 2004/05, compared with 22.7% in 2003/04, an increase of just 3.3 percentage points on the previous year.
“The lowest rate of recycling in the region was in Hastings and Dover where only 11% of household waste was put to better use.”
East of England
Residents here recycle and compost more of their waste than in any other region in England. Defra said: “People in the region are putting nearly a third of their rubbish (30%) to better use, an increase of 6 percentage points on last year. Residents in Waveney made the biggest leap in the region, nearly tripling their recycling: over a third of household waste was recycled or composted, compared with only 13% in 2002/03.”
“And Broadland, Babergh, Breckland, Breckland and Mid Suffolk have some of the highest rates of dry recycling (excluding composting) in the country. For example in Broadland, with the highest rate of recycling in the country, recycles 38.3% of household waste.”
Yorkshire and Humberside
This region saw an overall improvement with residents recycling or composting 18.9% of waste in 2004/05 compared with 14.8% in 2003/04.
South West
The region reached a rate of 26.3%, notching up a 4.2 percentage point increase on last year. The lowest rate of recycling in the region was in Gloucester where only 11.3% of household waste was put to better use. And in Bournemouth, recycling levels actually dropped from 23.3% in 2003/04 to 22.2% in 2004/05.
North West
Recycling and composting rates in the North West made one of the biggest leaps in the country during 2004/05. Almost a fifth (20%) of household waste was recycled or composted, compared with only 14.5 per cent in 2003/04.
Vale Royal experienced the most dramatic increase in the region, up from 15.4% in 2003/04 to 40%. While Eden almost doubled its recycling recycling rate to around 33%.
London
There is still much progress to be made in boosting recycling and composting in London, according to Defra. “The data for 2004/05 shows that, while householders in the region are recycling ever higher levels of household waste such as paper, glass, cans, kitchen and garden waste, this only accounts for 17.7% of the contents of people’s bins – one of the lowest rates in the country.”
Recycling in Newham is the lowest in the country – residents there recycle and compost just 6.2% of their rubbish, with Tower Hamlets following closely behind with 7.4%. Lewisham also features in the bottom 10 authorities for recycling and composting, with a 10.2% rate.
Recycling rates actually dropped in the Corporation of London (down from 19% in 2003/04 to 14.3%) and in Croydon (down from 14% to 13%).
Bexley was cited by Defra as a success story with a recycling rate near to 30%, a 10 percentage point increase on the previous year – the greatest improvement in the region. The authority contributed to an overall improvement in recycling rates in the capital, up from 13.8% in 2002/03, a gain of 3.9 percentage points.
And some authorities reported significant reductions in waste generation: in Hackney waste was down from 453kg per person in 2003/04 to 354kg and Haringey from 443kg per person to 354kg. The national average is 518 kg per person.
Mr Bradshaw expressed disappointment that not more had been done by failing councils and stressed that recent improvements had to be sustained.
“In London, some of the authorities are making great strides, but far too many are still not making the kind of progress we all expect.”
West Midlands
Recycling in the West Midlands is gathering pace, according to the data which shows that in 2004/05, householders in the region recycled ever higher levels of household waste such as paper, glass, cans, kitchen and garden waste.
People in Lichfield continue to be some of the best recyclers and composters in the country, reaching 46.4% in 2004/05. Meanwhile, Tamworth residents made the biggest leap in the region: nearly a third of household waste was recycled or composted, up to 30.7% from just 9.6% in 2003/04.
East Midlands
Recycling and composting rates in the East Midlands made the biggest leap in the country during 2004/05. Nearly 27% of household waste was recycled or composted, compared with only 20% in 2002/03, up 7 percentage points on last year.
Harborough experienced the most dramatic increase in England, up from 14.9% to 46%. Rushcliffe and North Kesteven also notched up impressive increases, 19.4 and 19.3 percentage points respectively.
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