Recycling in the United Kingdom

Recycling collection site in Portsmouth, Hampshire

In 2012 United Kingdom’s Recycling Rate was 17%.[1] The majority of recycling undertaken in the United Kingdom is undertaken by statutory authorities. Local Authorities are responsible for the collection of municipal waste and operate contracts which are usually kerbside collection schemes. The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 required local authorities in England to provide every household with a separate collection of at least two types of recyclable materials by 2010.[2]

Incentives

Local Authorities are given incentives towards meeting recycling targets set by European, national and regional Government by the imposition of financial penalties for failing to recycle. For example, levies are imposed on the proportion of waste material going to landfill under a landfill tax.

Household recycling

UK domestic recycling policy is geared towards encouraging more people to take control of recycling in their own homes, and over the last decade a number of new regulations have been introduced to encourage greater amounts of recycling. These include fines for people who don’t cut their household waste and a greater emphasis on separating waste into different recyclable materials, with each council applying different rules.

Recently, the focus has shifted from punishing those who don’t recycle enough to encouraging more people to recycle through rewarding the practice.

Other ways to improve recycling include taking glass items to bottle banks at supermarkets and composting biodegradable waste which prevents it from being sent to landfill. One of the best ways to recycle is to simply reuse items around the home rather than throwing them out.

According to the latest figures from Defra:

Industrial recycling

Commercial and industrial (C&I) waste makes up a large proportion of the UK’s waste. According to the latest figures from Defra:

The EU and recycling

The EU has introduced a number of directives which determine the targets of UK domestic recycling policy:

The 1999 Landfill Directive is one of the most important of these, which demands a reduction in the amount of waste being sent to landfill from 11.2 million tonnes in 2010 to 7.46 million tonnes in 2013 [8][9]

In 2010, Defra claimed that the UK would meet its first landfill diversion target, which was 75% on 1995 levels, and that it is ‘on track’ to meet the next targets in 2013 (50% on 1995 levels) and 2020 (35% on 1995 levels).[10]

The EU Waste Framework Directive states that the UK must recycle 50% of household waste by 2020, which includes composting and reusing waste. It also demands a 70% minimum recycling target for construction and demolition waste by 2020.[11]

Main aspects of UK recycling policy

Recycling collection bins for paper, cans, and plastics

UK recycling policy aims to improve recycling methods and levels across the UK. The four main materials that it focuses on are glass, paper, plastic and metal cans.

Glass

Glass can be recycled in the form of bottles and jars which are crushed down and then melted. Glass can be recycled infinitely because it does not lose any of its quality. It uses a lot less energy, fewer raw materials and produces less CO2 than manufacturing glass from scratch. The main difficulty with recycling glass is the need to remove the unwanted materials that contaminate it and avoiding the mixing of different colours.

Paper

Nearly all types of waste paper are recyclable, and recycled paper requires a lot less energy and fewer raw materials to produce than manufacturing it from scratch. However, paper cannot be recycled indefinitely, and the normal amount of times it can be recycled is about six.[12] 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are used annually in the UK

Plastic

The main problem with recycling plastic involves sorting the material because there are so many different types of plastic which complicate the process. For this reason plastic often has to be sorted by hand which can be very time consuming.

Metal cans

There is a high recycling rate for metal cans in the UK, with aluminium recycling and steel cans being the most common items. Metal can be recycled indefinitely, and aluminium cans use just 5% of the energy needed to produce them from scratch and only release 5% of the amount of greenhouse gases.[13] In addition, it is the easiest material to extract and separate from the other reyclables, using magnets for steel cans and special magnets (eddy currents) it guarantees recycling of every can.

Local councils and recycling

Although recycling is required right across the UK, recycling rules differ depending on the local council. Some local councils have implemented a one-box system for separating household waste, whereas others have provided many more boxes, and this recyclable waste is often collected at different times from standard landfill waste collections.

There are also different schemes in place across the country to determine where the waste goes and how it is used.

In England, the local authorities are given targets by Defra. It is these local targets which help the government to achieve its national targets. However, local authorities are given flexibility in deciding how to best meet these targets, hence the number of different schemes in place.

London

The issue of waste management and recycling is acute in London - the capital produces 17 million tonnes of waste each year, forecast to rise to 26.5 million tonnes in 2020.[14] The Mayor's Greater London Authority sets the framework for dealing with waste within a London-wide Municipal Waste Management Strategy including recycling targets for the London Boroughs to meet, which are made statutory within the London Plan. The existing organisational arrangements however are complex with a number of waste disposal authorities at sub-regional and local levels.

Birmingham

Birmingham City Council have introduced three kerbside collection schemes.

  1. Paper & Card Recycling (Blue Bag/Box). Introduced 2003. Container emptied every 2 weeks.
  2. Plastic Bottles (PET & HDPE), Glass, Aluminium & Tins Recycling (Green Box). Introduced 2005. Container emptied every 2 weeks.
  3. Garden Waste Recycling (Green Sacks). Introduced 2005. Sacks collected every 2 weeks.

These three schemes are now available to most of Birmingham's houses/flats depending on houses/flats with or without gardens. The Paper & Garden Waste recycling facility is available to all houses in Birmingham. The Green Box scheme is going to be available to all houses later this year. recycled every year : paper - 3500 tonnes wood - 8900 tonnes There are five household recycling centres and over 400 recycling banks across the whole of Birmingham. Recycling banks normally include:

Recycling controversies in the UK

There have been a number of controversies in recent years involving the recycling policies of various local councils:

Multiple containers

One of the major problems for recycling at home has been the provision of multiple containers to sort the waste. This has been criticised for being too confusing for many residents, with one of the biggest offenders being the Newcastle-under-Lyme council which implemented a nine-bin system in 2010.[15] Other councils have provided up to seven bins, although some private contractors provide only one, and separate the recyclable material themselves.[16]

Fortnightly collections

When fortnightly collections were brought in during 2007, they caused a lot of controversy. Many people were against them because it meant that they had to keep hold of their waste for longer and it was feared that this could be unhygienic, with fears arising in the press about health problems being caused as a result.[17]

There were also worries that fewer collections could encourage greater levels of fly tipping and could also lead to health problems for the rubbish collectors.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Waste Atlas(2012). Country Data: UNITED KINGDOM
  2. ↑ Friends of the Earth - "Recycling Bill success!"
  3. ↑ Household Recycling Rate Defra
  4. ↑ Amount of Recycled Materials in 2009/10 Defra
  5. ↑ Compost Recycling Percentage Defra
  6. ↑ Commercial and Industrial waste in 2009 Defra
  7. ↑ Increase in C&I recycling in 2009 Defra
  8. ↑ Landfill Waste in 2010 Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste
  9. ↑ Landfill Waste in 2013 The EU’s new Waste Framework Directive
  10. ↑ Defra landfill diversion targets Defra
  11. ↑ UK Framework Directive on Household Recycling Defra
  12. ↑ Paper Recycling Information UK Government Recycling Guideline
  13. ↑ Greenhouse Gas Targets Daily Mail Online
  14. ↑ The London Plan, Mayor of London, (Feb 2004), p158.
  15. ↑ Nine Bin Recycling System BBC News
  16. ↑ One Bin Recycling Initiative Waste Concern
  17. ↑ Health Problems Caused By Lingering Waste Telegraph Online
  18. ↑ Dangers For Dustmen Times Online

Further reading

External links

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