Councils urged to demand accurate recycling data

Council leaders have been warned to keep better track of the waste they send for recycling after it emerged some waste handling firms are refusing to provide accurate data on recycling rates, increasing the risk that potentially hazardous waste such as electronic equipment could be dumped illegally.

BusinessGreen.com has learnt that Paul Bettison, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, has written to 357 council leaders across the country urging them to check that their recycling data is accurate and insist that waste handling firms provide them with information on how much recyclate they are processing and where it is sent.

"Councils typically send recyclate to "sorters" who check it for quality and send it to the appropriate recycler," he explained. "According to Defra they are legally obliged to provide the councils with data on how much is sorted and where it is sent, but we have learnt that some councils are not requesting this data and are assuming everything that is sorted is recycled, while some " sorters" are refusing to hand over the data because they believe it is commercially sensitive."

Bettison said that he had some sympathy for sorting firms who are fearful that handing over such information to councils may prompt them to carry out the sorting work themselves and "cut out the middleman". But he insisted that councils needed to ensure their recycling data was accurate and added that he had also written to the Environment Agency requesting that they "deal robustly" with any waste firm that refuses to provide requested data to councils.

"I'm sure the vast majority of the recyclate that the "sorters" handle is recycled, but given we are asking the public and businesses to support councils' efforts to recycle we need to be able to prove conclusively at all times how much is recycled and where."

He added that an auditable paper trail was particularly important in the wake of a series of scandals that has seen potentially hazardous electronic waste, supposedly intended for reuse, illegally shipped to scrap yards in developing countries.

"If you can prove your waste has gone to "good homes" then when someone does have a spurious claim over where it has ended up you have the evidence you need, " he said. "Also if your waste does end up being handled illegally, an audit trail means you can easily track who is responsible."

Additional reporting by Rosalie Marshall