British recycling nudged up only half a percentage point in 2016, latest Defra stats show

The UK is on course to miss the European Union’s 2020 recycling targets, after Defra figures showed the recycling rate for household waste increased by only 0.6 of a percentage point, from 44.6 per cent in 2015 to 45.2 per cent in 2016.

The small increase is due to the new inclusion of incinerator bottom ash metals in overall waste retention figures. With progress across solid packaging waste, it is a failure to increase food waste collections that has dragged figures down. 

Tonnes of food waste are sent to landfill, where in thick plastic bags it breaks down anaerobically, which creates methane - some 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Defra’s WfH statistics notes added: ‘The inclusion of IBA metal in the WfH [Waste from Households] recycling data causes a small increase in WfH recycling rates. For example, for 2016, the UK WfH recycling rate including IBA metals is 45.2 per cent, a 0.6 percentage point increase from 44.6 per cent if IBA metals are excluded.’

Discounting metals from incineration, household waste recycling levels practically stagnated in 2016.

UK nations have individual reporting responsibilities to Defra – the latest figures show Wales still leads Britain for recycling, with 57.3 per cent of waste recycled. England’s recycling level was 44.9 per cent, followed by 43 per cent in Northern Ireland and 42.8 per cent in Scotland.

The report admitted that lack of progress in British recycling will prevent the UK from reaching the 50 per cent target in two years. It wrote: “While the UK’s 2016 recycling rate for waste from households shows an improvement over 2015, partly due to the inclusion of IBA metals, it provides further proof that on current policies, the UK will not reach 50 per cent recycling by 2020, let alone the higher rates provisionally agreed at EU level.”

Packaging, however, has already met the EU’s 2008 target for 60 per cent of packaging recovered, as in 2016, 71.4 per cent of packaging waste was recycled, compared to 64.7 per cent in 2015. Plastic packaging recovery was 44.9 per cent in 2016, up from 39.4 per cent in 2015.

Commenting, Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Development Director of the private French recycling company SUEZ, said: “The flatline in UK recycling rates for 2016 mirrors the trend for the past couple of years, largely because of England’s rates increasing by only fractions of a percent.

It is encouraging to note that high recovery and recycling rates for some materials are being achieved. Recycling and recovery rates in 2016 for materials like glass and paper comfortably exceeded the 60 per cent EU targets and metals recycling from packaging has exceeded the 50 per cent EU target. The flat line in the last years in biodegradable municipal waste shows we have more work to do on moving more waste away from landfill.”