Recycling Performance Information

How are we doing?

UK Recycling Statistics

In March 2006, DEFRA published provisional estimates from the Department’s latest Municipal Waste Management Statistics for 2004/05.

These are the first results to be based on information supplied by local authorities in England, to WasteDataFlow.

The figures for financial year 2004/5 show a further increase in recycling, an increase in total waste and a decrease in the amounts sent to landfill.

A summary of the data is presented below:

Municipal Waste Arisings and Management

• The total amount of municipal waste has increased to an estimated 29.7 million tonnes in England in 2004/05 compared to 29.1 million tonnes in 2003/04, an increase of 2.1 per cent.
• The average annual increase in municipal waste from 2000/01 to 2004/05 was 1.5 per cent.
• In total, 33.0 per cent (9.8 million tonnes) of municipal waste had some sort of value (recycling, composting, energy from waste and fuel manufacture) recovered from it in 2004/05, a rise from 28.0 per cent (8.1 million tonnes) in 2003/04.
• The proportion of municipal waste being recycled or composted increased from 19.0 per cent in 2003/04 to 23.5 per cent in 2004/05.
• The proportion of waste incinerated with energy recovery has remained roughly constant at around 9 per cent.
• The proportion of municipal waste being disposed of in landfill has continued to decrease from 72 per cent in 2003/04 to 67 per cent in 2004/05.
• The actual tonnage of municipal waste disposed of in landfill has also decreased again from 20.9 million tonnes in 2003/04 to 19.9 million tonnes in 2004/05.

Household Waste and Recycling

• In 2004/05, household sources accounted for around 86 per cent of municipal waste, 25.7 million tonnes, which equates to around 513 kg of household waste per person per annum.
• The proportion of household waste recycled (including composting) has continued to increase, rising from 17.8 per cent in 2003/04 to 22.5 per cent in 2004/05. This increase of 4.7 percentage points in the recycling rate is a continuation of the increased growth rate of 3.3 percentage points achieved last year.
• In absolute terms the amount of household waste collected for recycling has increased by 27.6 per cent, from 4.5 million tonnes in 2003/04 to 5.8 million tonnes in 2004/05.

Regional Variations

There continues to be significant variations in household recycling rates between different regions.

The highest recycling region in 2004/05 was the East (29.4 per cent) with the South West, East Midlands and South East all showing rates of 26 to 27 per cent. The North East had the lowest rate of 15.3 per cent.

For more information visit: www.defra.gov.uk