It is pleasing to see our recycling rates reach a high of 33 per cent, but other countries on the continent are still recycling up to twice as much.
Cllr Paul Bettison, LGA
Provisional quarterly figures submitted by local authorities to the government's WasteDataFlow database from July to September 2007 show that recycling rates grew to an average of 33.2% between October 2006 and September 2007.
This is a significant rise compared to the 30.9% recorded between April 2006 and March 2007.
Waste to landfill also dropped in the same period form 16.9 to 16.1 million tonnes, the department explained.
Total municipal waste changed little in the year to end September 2007, decreasing from 29.1 million tonnes to 29 million tonnes – or 0.3%.
A similar small decrease was reported in total household waste, from 25.8 to 25.7 million tonnes, Defra added.
The best regions for recycling were the East of England and the South West, which both recorded a 40% recycling average, with London coming bottom at 24%.
“Encouraging”
The findings were welcomed by the Local Government Association, who labelled them “very encouraging” and praised both residents and council.
However, Councillor Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA's environment board, stressed that there was still much more to do in order to avoid fines of up to £3 billion for sending waste to landfill.
He said: “While these figures are a positive move in the right direction, there is an inescapable need to do more. Britain is the dustbin of Europe, throwing more waste into landfill than in any other country in the EU. It is pleasing to see our recycling rates reach a high of 33 per cent, but other countries on the continent are still recycling up to twice as much.”
He added: “Councils and council tax payers are still facing fines of up to £3 billion if we do not dramatically reduce the amount of waste thrown into landfill. It is vital we look at alternatives to the status quo to deliver an even better deal for the taxpayer.”
Provisional
Defra explained that its data was provisional because not all returns had been completed at the time it had been downloaded from Wastedataflow, and that full validation and returns for the database could be revised by local authorities during the scheme year.
There are also seasonal effects on waste arisings and management which the department said meant care needed to be taken when assessing trends.
However, it stressed that unvalidated returns has a “small overall impact” on the statistics, accounting for 1% of the estimated total municipal waste.
Tables showing summary estimates, by region, and a more detailed description of the data and methodology can be found on the Defra website.
Final figures will be released in the annual National Statistics release in November 2008.
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