The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published its latest progress report into England’s recycling and recovery targets, stating the country’s drop in recycling is due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent waste service disruptions.
The Defra report updates the progress on several recycling and recovery targets in England, including:
- by 2020, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of waste materials such as at least paper, metal, plastic and glass from households and possibly from other origins as far as these waste streams are similar to waste from households, shall be increased to a minimum of overall 50% by weight
- by 2020, the preparing for re-use, recycling and other material recovery, including backfilling operations using waste to substitute other materials, of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste excluding naturally occurring material defined in category 17 05 04 in the list of waste shall be increased to a minimum of 70% by weight
- by 2025, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 55% by weight
- by 2030, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 60% by weight
- by 2035, the preparing for re-use and the recycling of municipal waste shall be increased to a minimum of 65% by weight.
Although progress has been made on recycling, England has not met the target to recycle 50% of ‘waste from households’ by 2020.
In 2020, the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was 44.0%, down from 45.5% in 2019. Defra says this decrease ‘reflects the impact the COVID-19 pandemic’, an impact that is still ongoing.
The total amount of recycled ‘waste from households’ decreased by 1.2%, something Defra has put down to service disruptions, including the closure of Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs)
Total ‘waste from households’ increased to 22.6 million tonnes in 2020 from 22.1 million tonnes in 2019, as people spent more time at home due to lockdowns, Defra says.
Alongside this, the total amount of recycled ‘waste from households’ decreased by 1.2%, something Defra has put down to service disruptions, including the closure of Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
The 2020 non-hazardous waste construction and demolition target of 70% recovery has been achieved. In 2018, the recovery rate was 93.8%. Defra said it will publish the 2019 and 2020 data on non-hazardous construction and demolition waste (including recovery rate) once the information is available.
Regarding future targets on municipal waste recycling rates, a municipal waste indicator is under development. Local authority collected waste is used as a proxy. In 2020 to 2021, 41.4% of local authority collected waste was recycled.
Next steps
Last year (2021), the UK government set out to implement reforms to the recycling system in England to make progress on recycling rates.
The 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy sets out the government’s ambitions for higher recycling rates, increased resource efficiency and a more circular economy in England.
To achieve this, Defra says it wants to make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. As part of the Resources and Waste Strategy, Defra launched three major reforms designed to improve recycling rates, through:
- improving consistency in household and business recycling collections in England
- a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- reforming the UK packaging producer responsibility system through Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging
Rolling out separate weekly food waste collections for households ‘will significantly impact overall recycling rates in England’, Defra says.
These reforms together make up the Collection and Packaging Reforms which will set out to reduce confusion around recycling, provide higher quality recyclate for reprocessors, increase recycling rates and reduce unnecessary and difficult-to-recycle packaging.
The government response to each consultation, which will include further detail on policies and implementation plans as well as final impact assessments, will be published in early 2022.
Furthermore, the 2021 Net Zero Strategy outlined options for the ‘near elimination’ of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill from 2028.
Rolling out separate weekly food waste collections for households ‘will significantly impact overall recycling rates in England’, Defra says.
To achieve this, Defra says it will provide £295 million of funding by 2025 to enable local authorities in England to prepare to introduce separate food waste collections for all households.
