Householders in the UK continue to recycle more and waste less. However, in the case of 2012/13, this was only just the case, and was largely thanks to progress made by the devolved administrations.

For the fifth year running, Resource is continuing to highlight residual waste per capita, as well as recycling rates. It remains our view that residual waste per capita is the best measure of progress towards zero waste, and we note that some administrations are now starting to incorporate this figure as part of their official release.

This year, we have introduced figures for total waste arising per capita, as this also reflects how well we are reducing overall consumption, whether this is through retailer initiatives that lightweight packaging, or education about consumption choices, including local authority waste minimisation campaigns. We have also added figures for the 12-month change in performance, illustrating which councils are making headway and which are going in reverse. While such an approach might not be welcomed in all quarters, we recognise that in many cases extraneous factors need to be understood.

At the UK level, in 2012/13, residual waste fell to just under 250 kilogrammes (kg) per capita, a reduction of almost five kilos on the year before. However, it should be noted that this fall is just a third of the amount our black bin waste shrunk by the year before. The fact that residual waste isn’t reducing as fast as it was probably won’t trouble Defra’s top brass, but the lack of progress with recycling rates might. Overall recycling increased by 0.6 per cent – again approximately a third of the rate of the year before – and, if nothing changes, the UK will not achieve the 50 per cent recycling target required by the revised Waste Framework Directive.

Speaking to Resource in January, Dan Rogerson, the current minister responsible for waste policy, commented: “If there is any question we are starting to slip away from that target, then obviously that’s a concern for me. It’s an issue I’m discussing with officials, and looking forward to working more closely with industry and local government to see where we can take that forward to make sure we stay on track.”

However, as Rogerson recognises, Defra has a smaller budget to call upon going forward, and the same is true for WRAP. The result has been a largely hands-off waste policy (that is, if we ignore Eric Pickles’s cack-handed attempt to bribe councils to run a weekly residual collection, which, sensibly, most have). And, looking at the data, it remains the case that the single biggest driver of improved recycling rates and lower residual arisings is reduced residual capacity – typically in the form of alternate weekly collections (AWC).

Looking at Wales, a much more progressive, and active, government approach to forming waste policy means it continues to lead the way. Although it
remains highly questionable that the UK will achieve the 2020 target, Wales should be congratulated for achieving this seven years early, passing the milestone point of recycling more than it disposes. It reflects how important it is to show ambition, and it seems reasonable to ask why others are not doing more to follow the Welsh model. (We should note that the municipal recycling rate for 2012/13 in Wales was higher still – 52.3 per cent – but our analysis in these tables is focused on household waste and recycling.)

Indeed, the creation of Zero Waste Scotland in 2011 is already having an effect, backed by government commitment to overhauling waste policy. The figures show total waste arising and residual waste per capita both falling, by 48kg and 33kg respectively. While there have been changes to how SEPA measures and reports household waste, the improvement supports a view that central government still has a pivotal role to play.

Recycling in reverse?

For the first time since we started compiling the league table of recycling performance – back in 2003 – the majority ofcouncils have seen a decrease in their recycling rate. The underlying reasons for this ought to worry Defra, along with a few other government departments.

This year’s table finds that while 80 waste collection authorities (WCAs) improved their recycling rates, at 148 authorities, recycling performance fell. The emerging picture of recycling performance in reverse is equally apparent when we look at unitary and disposal authorities. Sticking with England, 69 out of 123 of these similarly experienced a decrease.

The picture is not quite as bad elsewhere: in Northern Ireland, 17 out of 27 councils fared worse than they did the previous year; in Scotland, it was just under half – 15 out of 32; and in Wales, five out of 22 fell back.

As discussed earlier, one inference when examining these figures is that the level of support central government provides for councils has an impact on the performance. Once again, it is no surprise to see individual Welsh authorities faring best against the prevailing headwinds – the Welsh Government’s drive to support separate food waste collections has played a key role here.

However, wider government spending cuts should not be considered the only, or even main reason for the number of local authorities experiencing a fall in recycling rates last year. Looking into the data, there are other factors that have played a discernible role.

Firstly, the decreasing amount of paper in the waste stream is a concern. As we increasingly opt to consume information digitally, less paper and fewer magazines are thrown away. Smartphones and tablets are becoming ubiquitous, thus reducing one of the main components of the recycling stream. Although there has been an increase in the amount of cardboard pushed into the household waste stream, as online shopping becomes equally prevalent, this fall in the amount of high-value fibre not only impacts on recycling rates, but reduces the value of material collected from the doorstep. No doubt recycling contractors will be revising their financial calculations going forward.

Secondly, there was a lower level of garden waste this year when compared with the year before – notably quarter one of 2012 was significantly warmer than in 2013. According to Defra, the amount of green waste sent for composting between January and March 2013 was over 27 per cent lower than the year before.

Another factor contributing to a reduction in the figures is the decision to no longer count composted street sweepings as household recycling. Also, there does appear to be an improvement in documenting the level of materials recovery facility (MRF) rejections in some areas, e.g. Walsall and Western Riverside.

The highs and lows

There is relatively little change at the top of the chart for WCAs. 2011/12’s top six councils occupy the same places again for 2012/13, though all have seen a fall in their recycling rate.

Leading the way once again is the Vale of White Horse, which collects recycling and residual waste on alternate weeks, augmenting this with a weekly collection of food waste on the same split body vehicle configuration. We are impressed that the MRF rejection rate for materials through this system is now around five per cent, down from 13.8 per cent two years ago, reflecting highly effective communication with householders. Indeed, most WCAs in Oxfordshire are high achievers, making Oxfordshire County Council the top waste disposal authority in England, with residents producing a meagre 170.1kg of residual waste per capita each year. It poses an interesting question whether there has been a countywide effect from the measures taken by the
soon-to-be-defunct Oxford Waste Partnership, or if the county demographics support high recycling.

The biggest improvement in recycling performance at a waste collection authority was Aylesbury District Council, with an increase of 16.2 per cent, which was due to changing the service. In September, Aylesbury rolled out separate food waste collection, alongside the move to alternate weekly collection of residual waste and increased capacity for dry recycling.

Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council heads our chart of unitary and disposal authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its rapid improvement is mainly due to retrieving a significant amount of recyclable material from the residual waste stream at the Associated Waste Management MRF – on average, this site recycles approximately 36 per cent of the Calderdale’s black bag waste. However, Calderdale counts approximately 4,488 tonnes of green waste and other biodegradable material from this facility, even though the material is sent for drying and used as solid recovered fuel (SRF). We have not amended the figures, but believe if this were counted as residual treatment, then Calderdale’s recycling figure would be closer to (a still creditable) 55 per cent. The rise of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council in this year’s chart can be attributed to the same factors, as the recycling figures include 15,677 tonnes of ‘compostable’ material following a similar treatment route to Calderdale’s.

For the past three years, Resource’s league table has encountered rapid improvement at some local authorities, owing to treatment of organic material from the waste stream. While this represents a sustainable approach, the end uses currently fall outside the classification of recycling.

Looking towards the bottom of the tables for Scotland and the rest of the UK, as a generalisation, it remains the case that remote communities and Central London are subject to extenuating conditions with a common feature: namely, household waste is very difficult to disaggregate from commercial and tourist waste. However, elsewhere in Scotland, the data reflects that steps have been taken to discount trade waste that has previously been counted.

Some notes about the data

Inevitably, these figures will be a source of contention, as the compiling of waste data is an exceedingly complex and multifarious activity. Resource
welcomes dialogue with any party on how we can improve the accuracy or suitability of the information presented here.

Figures for England and Wales have been taken from WasteDataFlow (WDF). The tonnages we worked with are for household waste recycling and arisings, as reported in National Indicator 192. These include materials collected through bring sites, household waste recycling centres (in the case of UAs and WDAs), as well as recorded rejections from the first MRF that recycling is sent to.

There is still a shortcoming in as much as the household recycling figures do not discount rejections from secondary and tertiary MRFs, as well as contaminants sent for disposal by reprocessors. Although it is hoped the introduction of Q100 to WDF reporting will provide the opportunity to capture this information, there are still significant obstacles, notably the reporting of contamination in dry recyclables sent for international reprocessing. It remains to be seen whether sampling required by the MRF Regulations will provide a reliable way of estimating these figures.

The population figures for all countries have been drawn from the final quarter figures submitted to WDF. Here, it is worth remarking that while the UK population is continuing to grow, overall waste arisings continue to fall. While the point is encouraging, it remains to be seen just how decoupled waste has become from economic growth, as economic performance in 2012/13 was broadly flat.

The waste figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are based on figures issued by each government. In the case of Scotland, the figures are for the calendar year 2012. Consequently, we have opted to present this country in its own table, not so much in the spirit of independence, but rather to recognise the lack of comparability.

According to SEPA, the decision to move to the calendar year is to bring Scotland’s waste data reporting into line with Europe; the decision to remove the need for reporting on a quarterly basis is to reduce the administrative burden on councils. This, according to SEPA, was partly because the amount of data required from Scottish local authorities has increased, including ‘more detailed’ information on the household, commercial and industrial breakdown on waste managed, and information about the final destination of waste recycled.

Read Resource's 2012/13 league table for England's collection authorities, Scotland or the United Countries.