Posted on 25th March 2015 by Hintons
As anyone living in England probably knows, the spring of 2014 was unusually warm. While many people welcomed the rising temperatures, they also had a number of side effects such as water shortages. However, one of the other benefits of this warm spring is that England’s recycling rate rose dramatically.
Dramatically rising household recycling rates
Councils throughout England reported that household recycling rose dramatically between April and June of 2014, according to figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). During this period the quarterly recycling rate was reported to be an impressive 48.5%. This is significantly higher than the last quarter of 2012 and shows a dramatic improvement in the efforts that are being taken by households to recycle packaging and other waste elements that are generated at home.
In fact, the percentages of household recycling in England have been rising steadily over the last couple of years. Experts suggest that one of the main reasons for the rise in household recycling during spring of 2014 is that more people started to compost their green waste. It is believed that this increase may be directly linked to the rise in temperatures. The good news is that once many people get into the habit of composting their green waste they continue this trend, even after temperatures drop.
Green waste recycling on the up
In the spring of 2014 more than a million and a half tones of green waste were collected and treated by councils in England. However, in the same period of the previous year this figure was substantially lower at 1.29 million tones. The increase in the amount of green waste that was taken to landfill in the spring of 2014 directly shows the desire of householders to increase their recycling efforts.
At present, around 40% of all household waste recycling is comprised of paper and card. Both glass and other materials take 19% of the average household recycling, while scrap metals is around 9%. Although most households generate a lot of water in the form of plastics such as plastic bottles, containers and plastic packaging, plastic recycling comprises just 7% for the average household.
Recycling target for 2020
However, the recycling figures in England still need to be improved if the country intends to meet the European Union’s recycling target. At present, the rolling recycling rate in England over the period of 12 months stands at 44.9%. However, the EU has decreed that all member countries must meet a recycling rate of 50% by 2020. It seems that the councils and other monitoring boards in England still have their work cut out for them to get the recycling message out and encourage people to recycle at least half of all their household waste.
Here at Hinton’s Waste we are committed to providing an environmentally friendly solution to waste disposal. That is why we aim to recycle 90% of the contents that is collected in your skip. For more information on our recycling services, please get in touch with us today.