Government wants your views on recycling and waste

The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is seeking to gather views on household and recycling collections.

Household recycling rates in England have increased significantly from 11% in 2001 to 45.2% in 2017, but have remained fairly consistent ever since, despite new services implemented.  Some local authorities, who collect waste in the UK, have even seen a drop in recycling rates despite these new services and public consciousness about the harm of single-use plastics to the environment.

Despite these concerns, and willingness to reduce reuse and recycle, people seem keen to recycle more but are increasingly confused about what they can and can’t recycle - and what goes in what bin.  Many people are calling for better waste management including better recycling, but there are few incentives to encourage local authorities to expand recycling services or for businesses to invest in recycling services. This has become more important, given last year’s ban by China on the import of post-consumer contaminated plastic and paper.

People have called for greater consistency in what can be collected for recycling and how it is collected. There have also been calls for investment in separate food waste collection to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill.

DEFRA would like to gather views from people via an online consultation.  The consultation is live now and can be found here.  It will close on 13 May 2019.