Spokeswoman, Defra
The provisional figures, which was submitted to the government database WasteDataFlow by councils, show that 36% of household waste was recycled during the second quarter of 2008/09 (October-December 2008) compared to 33% for the same period the year before.
The figures represent the first figures published by Defra on waste arisings and recycling performance since the onset of the recession.
When assessed in the context of a whole year, which is done to minimise seasonal fluctuations, today's data suggests that England achieved a 36.9% for the rolling year January-December 2008, with the East Midlands (44.4%) and Eastern England (43.6%) performing particularly well over this period.
The data also shows that there was a 0.8 million tonnes decrease in municipal waste arising in the year ending December 2008 – from 28.5 million tonnes for the financial year, April 2007-March 2008, to 27.7 million tonnes, a 3% decrease.
Meanwhile, over the same period, household waste arisings fell from 25.3 million tonnes to 24.6 million tonnes and the amount of waste sent to landfill decreased from 15.5 million tonnes to 14.2 million tonnes. Waste per head also decreased from 328kg per head between April 2007 and March 2008 to 306kg per head between January and December 2008.
A Defra spokeswoman hailed the provisional figures, and she said: “These results are encouraging, as despite the economic downturn, England's recycling rates stayed strong and less waste was sent to landfill.”
“It shows that local authorities and the public remain committed to recycling, and cutting the annual amount of waste sent to landfill by 22kg per person is a tremendous achievement,” she added.
The final official statistics are set to be published in November 2009 in the annual National Statistics release.
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