Although councils with disposal responsibilities have been set landfill diversion targets up until 2020, there have been no statutory recycling targets set for English councils beyond this financial year (2005/06).
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is currently reviewing its waste strategy, and a spokesperson told letsrecycle.com yesterday: “There will be an announcement at the end of the month or early September, detailing the way forward for councils on recycling.”
This year, councils are collectively aiming for a national target to recycle 25% of waste collected from householders. Ministers have called this target “challenging but achievable”. This week saw final confirmation that the previous national target – a 17% national recycling rate – was met in 2003/04 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Following the release of this confirmation – in the form of the Municipal Waste Management Survey – pressure group Friends of the Earth called on the government to set further recycling targets “as a matter of urgency”. It has suggested targets of 50% by 2010 and 75% by 2015.
Momentum
Georgina Bloomfield, recycling campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Recycling in England has been improving, but we need to ensure that the momentum for providing better services continues.
“The government should set further statutory targets for local authorities as a matter of urgency to ensure collection services continue to improve,” Ms Bloomfield added.
However, local authority recycling experts have told letsrecycle.com they believe a more likely scenario is a freezing of current recycling targets as minds concentrate on the biodegradable waste diversion requirements of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. Such a situation could also see a minimum recycling level for all councils, something in the order of a 20% recycling rate, experts suggested.
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