Recycling News: Read All About The Regions
Previous posts have mentioned the ongoing discussions about our waste management
in North London. As part of those debates I thought many readers might be
interested in figures released this week. These show England is making real
progress in improving recycling rates across the country. The Government has
pledged to get people to recycle 40 per cent of household waste by 2010 and the
figures show that on average we recycle 34.5 per cent, up from 30 per cent last
year or an extra 700,000 tonnes in one year. At the same time landfill waste
has fallen by more than a million tonnes in the last year, from 16.9m tonnes in
2006/7 to 15.5m tonnes in 2007/8.
However, there are big regional variations in recycling and London has
the lowest level of any English Region - just 25 per cent of our household
rubbish was recycled this year compared to 42 per cent in the East Midlands and
40 per cent in the South West. Measures such as the landfill tax escalator have
helped encourage local authorities to recycle more as has Government support to
improve recycling facilities. However, there is clearly much more to do,
especially in our region, to help us both cut the amount of waste we create and
ensure we reuse and recycle where we can. If you would like to know the full
regional breakdown in recycling rates across England please get in touch.
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