However, the survey shows that the recycling rate in the UK grew by just 2% to 39% between April 2019 and March 2020.
The plastics recycling charity said that up until March, citizens were still “failing to engage” with the recycling message. RECOUP said this began to change when lockdown restrictions imposed in March altered citizens’ lifestyles. This is said to have led to a “significant” increase in the plastics recycling rate from household collections.
Steve Morgan, policy and infrastructure manager at RECOUP, said: “Local authorities report an increase in excess of 20% of recycling in the first lockdown period, evidence which has been backed up by RECOUP members Veolia who have seen a 10% increase in kerbside plastics collected this year.”
He added: “This is a sizeable increase on figures from the 2020 RECOUP Plastics Collection Survey report which showed only a 2% increase in collection rates during 2019. With more people being at home and many changing their ways of working during 2020, initial figures do suggest that when people have the easy access to be able to recycle plastic that they do choose to do the right thing.”
2020
The 2020 survey covers retrospective data from 2019 and shows that up until March 2020 the overall rate increased by 2%.
“Local authorities report an increase in excess of 20% of recycling in the first lockdown period”
The data showed 560,000 tonnes of plastic was collected for recycling in total, which included 377,000 tonnes of plastic bottles, 161,000 tonnes of plastic pots, tubs and trays and 22,000 tonnes of plastic film. The collection rate was 59% for plastic bottles, 33% for plastic pots, tubs and trays and 7% for plastic film.
RECOUP’s s full UK Household Plastics Collection Survey, which is an analysis of local authority data on plastics recycling collections alongside that known to be placed on the market, is to be published on 7 December.
Pandemic
Only the first few weeks of the first national lockdown are included in the data. A RECOUP spokesperson told letsrecycle.com the data was unlikely to reflect the impact of the pandemic anyway because it took around a month for any behavioural changes to become noticeable.
However, the spokesperson said they had learnt from their members “anecdotally” that there had been an improvement in plastics recycling throughout the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic will be reflected in the publication of RECOUP’s survey in 2021.
Local authorities
All the local authorities surveyed provided a kerbside recycling collection service that included plastic bottles in the 2020 local authority financial year, RECOUP says.
And, 325 (85%) collected plastic pots, tubs and trays, eight (4%) more than the previous year.
However, only 55 (14%) collected plastic film. This is six (2%) fewer than the previous year and represents the third consecutive year of decline.
Forty-four per cent of local authorities said they were receiving budget cuts for providing waste and recycling collections.
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