How is the lowest ranking council improving its recycling rates?

The expansion of the pilot scheme will see small clear plastic recycling bags delivered to more of its flat-based residents in an effort to improve recycling rates. 

Residents are being encouraged to fill no more than one of the clear bags with up to 1kg of recycling every day to be left in recycling bins for collection.   

The London borough’s recycling rate currently sits at 15.8%, according to the household recycling rates released by Defra last month.  

This represents a decrease of 1.9% from 17.7% in 2022/23. 

The local authority sits 3.4% behind Liverpool city council which came second last and has a 19.2% recycling rate.  

Tower Hamlets also had the lowest proportion of organic waste at 8.3% and its average recycling contamination rate was approximately 30%.  

A spokesperson for the council told letsrecycle.com: “[We] wanted to test if providing smaller clear sacks that fit into the communal recycling bin apertures on estates would help to reinforce the recycling message, make it easier to recycle in communal bins and reduce contamination.” 

The pilot project is restricted to certain areas which will be tested to see the impact on recycling rates. 

The bags being used for the scheme are made from post-consumer recycled plastic and purchased from a UK supplier. 

The recycling is deposited at Bywaters in Bow and the bags, along with the contents, are processed for recycling.  

Residents will not be mandated to use the sacks and are still able to put recycling into bins loose if desired.  

The council issued a reminder to residents to never put recycling in black bin bags.  

The pilot first began in October 2024 and included about 12,500 residential properties in flats. It has now been expanded to 30,000 properties. 

Tower Hamlets has also started dedicated cardboard collections on selected estates, which is expected to be expanded to more properties over the next 12 months.   

Additionally, the council has invested over £2 million into improving recycling infrastructure for 2,170 blocks of flats.  

The spokesperson added: “We have been working to improve our recycling collection services, increasing the number of recycling bins available across the borough and investing in a range of communication and engagement activities.” 

Why are recycling rates so low in Tower Hamlets?  

Tower Hamlets is the most densely populated borough in England with 15,695 residents per square kilometre.  

The majority live in flats or maisonettes, which represent around 88% of housing stock in the borough. 

The average rate of flats or maisonettes for London is 56% and the rest of England is 24%.  

Studies have found that flats and maisonettes tend to have lower recycling rates due to issues associated with communal recycling systems and accessibility problems for refuse collection vehicles (RCVs).  

The borough also has the fastest growing population in the country. Its local population increased by 22.1% over ten years from 254,000 to 310,300 in 2021.  

This equated to an additional 19,200 households being added since 2011.