UK waste policy – it's working

The government has today released provisional figures suggesting that policies designed to divert waste from landfill and promote recycling are having the desired effect.

Defra admits that seven local authorities had not provided it with data at the time the numbers were assessed and that full results would not be ready until later this year, but provisional results show that total municipal waste fell one per cent during 2007 to 28.8 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, household waste fell from 25.8 million to 25.6 million tonnes, with the average domestic recycling rate climbing from 30.9 per cent in April 2006 to 33.9 per cent a year later. Average waste per head of household also fell from 353kg to 334kg over the course of 2007.

A spokeswoman for Defra hailed the results as "really good news", although she added that the UK still had a long way to go to attain recycling rates on a par with countries on the continent, such as Germany and the Netherlands.

Paul Bettison, chair of the environment board at the Local Government Association, said that the figures provided evidence of a cultural shift that has prompted businesses and individuals to pay far greater attention to waste. "People en masse have taken the chance to change their lifestyle and think about waste for the first time," he said. "They are taking efforts to avoid packaging and recycling where possible."

He added that as recycling rates climb, they are contributing to a virtuous circle that is seeing more recycling facilities built. "The demand is there and the mindset is right, as a result businesses will set up recycling plants because there is the demand for them," he said.

The figures come just a week after new figures from waste advisory body WRAP revealed that supermarkets are on track to meet their commitment to cut packaging levels, having seen packaging levels stabilise in the past year despite climbing sales.