What’s happening with recycling?

The proportion of our household waste that goes to recycling grew from 11% in 2001 to 42% in 2022. However, in recent years the level of recycling has stalled and we missed the target of 50% by 2020.

The government has at last clarified its proposals for recycling.The overall objective is to standardise recycling across England and to encourage manufacturers to have more sustainable packaging.

Under these plans every local authority in England will collect garden waste, food waste, glass, metal, plastic, paper and card. At the same time the range of items that you can put in the recycling bin will be increased to include glass bottles and jars, and cartons.

Flexible plastics such as bread bags, plastic films etc will follow a year later. At the moment you need to take plastic film to a supermarket if this is to be recycled.

The same rules are being applied to businesses as well as for schools and hospitals. From 2025 businesses will be obliged to follow the recycling principles and will have their recycling collected in the same way as a household.

In parallel, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is being rolled out. This is an environmental policy that requires producers to pay a tax which reflects the full costs of dealing with the waste they produce throughout the lifetime of a product. The annual cost of recycling is about £1.7bn and businesses rather than taxpayers should be picking up this cost. This in turn should result in a reduction in packaging and a move to more sustainable options.