UK Recycling rates remain in the doldrums says ESA
LONDON, 22 February 2017: The Environmental Services Association (ESA), the trade body for the resources and waste management industry, today commented on the latest UK waste statistics published by Defra, and welcomed revised estimates of the amounts of commercial and industrial waste arising in England.
ESA’s Executive Director, Jacob Hayler, said:
“While the UK’s 2016 recycling rate for waste from households shows an improvement over 2015, partly due to the inclusion of IBA metals, it provides further proof that on current policies, the UK will not reach 50% recycling by 2020, let alone the higher rates provisionally agreed at EU level. As ESA has already pointed out, Defra’s impending resources and waste strategy will need to address the issue of sustainable markets for recyclable materials, as well as the UK’s residual waste capacity gap.”
Turning to the revised estimates of arisings of commercial and industrial waste published today, he continued:
“ESA and its members welcome the revised figures on commercial and industrial (C&I) waste published today in “UK Waste Statistics”. Last year, ESA members raised concerns about the data published by Defra on this waste stream, which in their view significantly underestimated the amount of waste out there.
ESA is pleased that by working with the industry, sharing knowledge, and cross checking against other datasets, this year Defra have been able to come up with a much more transparent and reliable approach to estimating the total amount of C&I waste. The new approach tallies better with industry’s own analysis and other data sets, which gives more confidence and clarity around the reported figures, and establishes a better platform for understanding future trends and changes.“
“This collaborative work has been particularly important at a time when the UK is looking to develop its own post-Brexit resources and waste strategy and trying to encourage investment in much-needed UK waste infrastructure and services.”