Significant rise in card collected at kerbside

The ‘Analysis of kerbside dry recycling performance in the UK' shows that 329 local authorities (76%) collected paper and card during the year, resulting in a corresponding fall in councils collecting paper only.

This year the report looks at data from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the first time. In England it highlights that, compared to 2007/08, local authorities continued to expand their services.
There was a substantial increase in the number of authorities collecting the five key materials at kerbside – paper, card, cans, glass and plastic bottles, with 173 English authorities collecting all of these during 2008/09 – nearly half of all English local authorities – compared to 126 in 2006/07. Overall, 206 UK authorities now collect all five materials at the kerbside.

The report, written by consultancy Resource Futures, also analysed the 2008/09 data to identify which factors were most influential in affecting kerbside dry recycling performance.

These were identified as: levels of deprivation (with lower yields associated with higher levels of deprivation); the range of materials targeted (with wider ranges of materials targeted achieving higher dry recycling yields); and, fortnightly refuse collections (being associated with higher dry recycling yields in comparison to weekly refuse collections).

This final finding would appear to support the findings of a Eunomia study published yesterday which claimed that fortnightly residual waste collections help to increase recycling rates and cut costs – a suggestion which has since come under attack from the government (see letsrecycle.com story).

WRAP's director for local government services, Phillip Ward, said: “WRAP commissioned this report for two reasons. The first is to provide local authorities with a simple way to judge how their recycling services are performing. When budgets are tight making sure that they get the best from their services is important.The second is to try to understand which measureable common factors affect the success of schemes.”

He continued: “This research offers insight for local authorities helping them understand the effect which different local choices can have on the performance of their recycling services. We hope that this evidence will help local authorities in making their decisions taking account also, of course, of their own local needs and circumstances.”

Earlier this year WRAP launched a Benchmark Tool: providing local authorities with a simple way to compare their kerbside dry recycling performance against authorities with similar demographics, to their nearest (statistical) neighbours and to national performance. The Tool draws on the data presented in this report.