Hertfordshire reports first recycling fall since 2017/18 as waste volumes also drop

The HWP brings together the ten borough and district councils in their capacity as waste collection authorities and Hertfordshire county council as the waste disposal authority.

Released today (19 January), the  report for the 2022/23 financial year shows that the overall recycling rate in the region for this period was 51.2%, down 1.5% year-on-year.

The partnership said however “there is no evidence that this fall represents a slackening of interest or commitment to recycling on the part of residents”.

The fall was also partly caused by a fall in garden waste, which declined by around 15,300 tonnes. The partnership put this down to the hot weather the country saw in the summer of 2022.

Other notable statistics include a 6% (32,000 tonnes) drop in overall waste volumes, to 471,499. Residual waste to landfill has also fallen by just under 36%, with 50,495 tonnes going to landfill.

Markets

The report provided a detailed list of all materials, showing how much was collected, processed in the UK and also exported for recycling.

The highest tonnages were seen for glass, where 34,016 tonnes, around a quarter of all recycling, was processed. Of this, 100% was recycled in the UK.

Other streams which saw 100% of material recycled domestically include scrap metal, WEEE and wood.

The report added that 72.7% (133,197 tonnes) of all recyclates collected by the Partnership were reprocessed in the UK.

Export

With paper, 25,896 tonnes of mixed paper and card was collected, with 45.8% recycled in the UK with the remainder sent to the Far East, Turkey and ‘other’ countries.

With mixed plastics, 12,986 tonnes were collected with 90.2% recycled domestically.

Other markets with high levels of export include textiles, with 42% recycled domestically, composite food and beverage cartons, at 59% and single stream card, where just 1.2% was recycled domestically.

Residual Waste

The report revealed a decrease in residual waste, stating it had reached its lowest level since the inception of the annual report in 2010/11.

It recorded that the authority had collected an average of 453.88 kilograms per household. This marks a  reduction from the 2021/22 value of 473.68 kilograms per household, which is a decrease of 4.18%.

Data

The data used to compile the report is based on partner authority submissions to WasteDataFlow. Partner authorities are required to submit reports to WDF on a quarterly basis.

The waste collection authorities are: Broxbourne borough council, Dacorum borough council, East Herts district council, Hertsmere borough council, North Herts district council, St Albans city and district council, Stevenage borough council, Three Rivers district council, Watford borough council Welwyn Hatfield borough council.