UK moves above EU average municipal recycling rate

But, the figures, which are issued by the statistical body Eurostat, also show that the UK continued to lag behind the average percentage of municipal waste composted across the EUs 27 member states, and that it had an above-average reliance on landfill.

The data represents the third annual analysis of European municipal waste management by Eurostat, and indicates an average dry recycling rate across the EU27 of 24%, a composting rate of 18%, an incineration rate of 20% and an average of 38% of waste being sent to landfill.

In comparison to this, the UK sent 26% of its waste for dry recycling, 14% for composting, just 11% for incineration and 48% to landfill.

As such, the figures illustrate a continued improvement from the UKs relative performance in 2008, where it landfilled 55%, compared to an EU-wide average of 40% and its dry recycling rate was in line with the EU average of 23% (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, its composting rate shows little sign of catching up with the European average, only marginally improving on the 2008 performance that saw its 12% rate lagging behind the 17% achieved EU-wide.

And, the amount of municipal waste generated per person continues to sit above the EU-wide average although the gap between the 529 kilograms per person generated per person in the UK and the 513kg for the European Union as a whole is much less than that recorded for 2008.

EU-wide comparison

In terms of comparing EU countries performance, the countries with the best and worst recycling rates are similar to in 2009. This means Germany maintains its status as the country with the best dry recycling rate (48%), ahead of Sweden and Belgium, which both reached 36% and Ireland and the Netherlands (both 32%).

At the other end of the table, Bulgaria recorded no dry recycling rate, with 100% of its municipal waste being landfilled, while just 1% of Romanias municipal waste was sent for dry recycling and only 2% of the Czech Republics.

A similarly static comparison was recorded for composting, with Austrias 40% composting rate the best among the EU27, ahead of Italy on 32% and the Netherlands on 28%. Composting rates of 0% were recorded in Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, while Latvia and Romania composted 0.5% or less.

The UKs total dry recycling and composting rate 40% in 2009 sat below the European average of 42%, and significantly below the 70% total recorded in Austria, 66% for Germany, 61% for the Netherlands, 60% for Austria and 50% in Sweden.

Interestingly, all these countries sent little or no municipal waste to landfill, with the remainder largely being sent for incineration.

This would appear to add weight to arguments advanced by incineration advocates such as the Energy from Waste UK group that a high recycling rate can be achieved alongside relatively high incineration rates.

(NB: ‘0’ equals less than 0.5%, ‘-‘ indicates a real zero)