Governments own recycling performance slips by 3.5%

The Sustainable Development Commission reported on Friday (December 12) that the recycling rate across departments had fallen to 35% in 2007/08, compared to 38.5% in 2006/07, despite the amount of waste being generated falling by 28.8%.

The commission, which was founded in 2000, is the government's independent adviser on sustainable development and is chaired by 18 commissioners with a variety of backgrounds, with former director of Friends of the Earth Jonathon Porritt as its chair.

As well as a fall in recycling performance, the Commission's revealed that the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources used by departments had fallen by 6.3% to 22% over the past 12 months.

However, the Commission claimed that, despite being down on last year's rate, recycling was on course to reach the 40% target by 2010, while the reduction in waste being generated was already above expectations.

Rebecca Willis, vice chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, said: “It's great to see departments finally starting to prioritise their sustainability duties and make progress in many areas. And we look forward to seeing the results of recent initiatives, like the new Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Procurement, translate into stronger results next year.”

Mixed

The report claimed that, despite departmental results being mixed, the government as a whole was “on target to meet most major targets” but raised fears that carbon emissions were “not falling fast enough” to meet targets for 2011/12 that were unveiled by the Prime Minister in June 2006.

One major area of concern outlined by the Sustainable Development Commission was the amount of electricity being generated from combined heat and power (CHP) facilities, which had risen to 8.7% compared to last year's 5.8%.

However, despite this increase, concerns have been raised over whether the government will be able to reach its 2010 target of 15% at the current rate of expansion.

Ms Willis said: “There's still a long way to go – and it's clear that these targets must be the start of an ever more ambitious sustainability programme. In the current economic climate of volatile energy costs and financial constraints, these targets make good economic sense.”

“And now that the UK has committed itself to a world-leading 80% cut in emissions by 2050, and the Committee on Climate Change has recommended a reduction of 34% by 2020, the government needs to demonstrate in practice how such cuts can be met.”

The Sustainable Development Commission is set to publish its recommendations for priorities beyond the current 2012 targets by the spring.