The document summarizes recycling rates across the United Kingdom. Recycling rates have plateaued in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland and are likely to miss the 2020 EU target of 50% recycling for household waste. Wales has been more successful in meeting recycling targets due to greater government intervention and funding to local authorities. Austerity measures have negatively impacted recycling in most areas by reducing budgets for waste management. Carbon emissions are also being considered more in evaluating waste systems rather than just tonnages recycled.

1. Recycling Rates Plateau –
Lessons from the United
Kingdom
Dr Nia Owen
Principal Consultant

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• A personal welcome
• The context:
– EU recycling targets
– devolved governments of the United Kingdom
• Recycling rates: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
• Comparison of progress
• The impact of Austerity
• The role of carbon
• Conclusions
Overview

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• Principal Consultant
• 11 years experience in the waste sector
• Member of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
• Knowledge Leader for Waste Auditing
• PhD in material recovery facility design and performance
• Expertise in recycling scheme monitoring, data analysis and options
appraisal
• Acknowledgements
– Steve Rymill, Senior Consultant
– Adam Read, Practice Director for Resource Efficiency & Waste
Management
A personal welcome

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The Context

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• All members of the European Union
– By 2020: 50% preparing for re-use and recycling (RRC%) of certain
waste materials from households and other origins similar to
households
Waste Framework Directive

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• Granting of powers from the Parliament of the United Kingdom to:
– The Scottish Parliament
– The National Assembly for Wales
– The Northern Ireland Assembly
• Different powers devolved, including environment
• Each nation has its own policy and targets on waste minimisation and
management
– Different levels of ambition in RRC% targets
Devolved powers in the United Kingdom
Nation 2013 2015 2020 2025
England - - 50% -
Northern Ireland - 45% 50% -
Scotland 50% - 60% 70%
Wales 52% 58% 64% 70%

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Progress against targets

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• No targets other than meeting the statutory EC RRC% target
• Current recycling rate – 44%
– The trend since 2011 is plateauing
• Household waste arisings beginning to increase after a gradual decline
from 2006
• Many local authorities are seeing their RRC% decrease
• Socio-economic aspects and housing density are often
viewed as having a large influence on the RRC%
• Some local authorities are exceeding RRC% of 65%
England – progress against targets

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• Relatively unambitious RRC% targets
– 45% by 2015, 50% by 2020
• Current recycling rate – 41%
• Local authorities RRC% range from 28% to 58%
• In January 2015, Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister expressed
concern at the stalling recycling rates
– Linked the stagnation to the increase in the amount of incineration
• Has just undergone local government restructure
– Number of local authorities reduced from 26 to 11
– Will this result in improvement in the RRC%?
Northern Ireland – progress against targets

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• Began thinking about the concept of Zero Waste as early
as 2006
• Ambitious RRC% targets
– 40% by 2010, 50% by 2013, 60% by 2020 and 70% by
2025
• Despite ambitious targets, RRC% is stagnating
– Current RRC% of ~43%. A clear plateauing
• More than two-thirds of local authorities failed to meet
the Scottish Government target of 50% RRC by 2013
– Results in Scotland falling short of its own target
– Waste (Scotland) Regulations may result in more
municipal waste being recovered for recycling
• Turning attention to carbon metrics
Scotland – progress against targets

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• Statutory RRC% targets for each individual local authority
– 52% by 2013, 58% by 2016, 64% by 2020 and 70% by 2025
• Fines for local authorities not meeting targets
– £200 per tonne
• Current recycling rate – 56.2% for 2014/15
• Bucks the UK trend
– Has already exceeded the EC’s 50% target for 2020
– Increased more than 2% from 2012/13 – 2013/14
• Only 3 of the 22 local authorities failed to meet the
2013 statutory recycling target of 52%
– Range from 48% to 63%
Wales – progress against targets

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Comparison Across the UK

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Comparison of progress across the United Kingdom

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The Role of Austerity

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• Ricardo Energy & Environment and the Chartered Institution of Wastes
Management (CIWM) survey:
– 69% of local authority respondents had their waste management
budget cut through austerity measures
• A range of methods for reducing expenditure, all of which have a
potential impact recycling rates
– Charging households for garden waste collections
– Reducing frequency of waste collections
– Removing food waste/ recycling collections – particularly in some
areas where take-up/ contamination is an issue
– Closing household waste recycling centres
Austerity – what role will it play?

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• Austerity continues (particularly in England)
• Likely to continue to struggle against the 50% target (except for Wales)
• In Wales, funding is provided to local authorities to help them improve
RRC%
– However, this is no longer ring fenced so the budget is being
challenged
Austerity – what role will it play?

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Carbon as an Alternative Measure

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• Alternative thinking is coming to the fore on how a waste management
system should be measured
– The new Waste Framework Directive has introduced the concept of
life-cycle thinking into waste policies
• The traditional recycling league tables are a tonnage-based metric and
hark back to the time when there were landfill diversion targets for each
local authority in the UK
– Those targets encouraged local authorities to “chase” the heavier
waste materials, including garden waste, despite the marginal
environmental benefits of collecting some of those wastes
• This partial picture does not demonstrate the contributions (both
positive and negative) that waste treatment technologies can make
Carbon as an alternative measure

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• Ricardo Energy & Environment has developed a new way of measuring
waste management systems – Carbon League Tables (CLT)
• Considers the final destination of all local authority waste (recycled,
composted, landfilled etc.)
– Provides an Average Emission Factor (AEF) - how much CO2 has been
produced or saved for each tonne of waste
– No tangible correlation between tonnage results
– For instance, East Hampshire Council (~120K population) move from
the 315th English local authority ranked using traditional weight-based
tables, to 6th using the AEF
• As more local authorities and governments increase the significance
they pay to carbon, this could result in an even greater chance of the EC
RRC% 2020 target being missed
Carbon as an alternative measure

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Conclusions

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• The impact of austerity measures and the lack of government intervention
are the two biggest factors explaining why recycling rates are stagnating
– Except for Wales, where the reverse is true
• England, Northern Ireland and Scotland all look likely to fall short of 50%
– As England makes up the bulk of municipal waste arisings in the UK, the
UK as a whole looks set to fall short
• In response, many local authorities are looking at changing the way they
collect household waste
– Reducing the frequency of residual waste collections etc.
• Reporting the impact of a waste services carbon emissions is becoming a
more pressing matter to many UK local authorities
– This may further limit the ability to meet the EC’s 50% target
• Perhaps other struggling European nations could follow the lead of Wales?
Conclusions

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Good Morning!

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Good Morning!

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Nia Owen
01235 75 3688
Nia.Owen@ricardo.com
www.ricardo.com