Is Britain Rubbish at Rubbish?
You would have to have spent your whole life in a wheelie bin not to know that recycling is one of the big issues facing the government and local authorities in the UK. But try to pin down the actual facts and figures and you might find yourself wanting to crawl back into that wheelie bin.
Simple comparisons of UK and European recycling rates are complicated by the fact that some countries include certain types of incineration schemes in their figures (the UK doesn't include these). Governments are often slow to publish figures and the latest available are sometimes two or three years old. On top of this figures for recycling sometimes refer to household waste and sometimes include business and industry waste as well.
Recycling Rates in Europe
Sadly, whatever figures you look at, the UK is still rubbish at rubbish. Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria lead Europe with recycling rates of around 60%. The United Kingdom languishes at the bottom of the table with a recycling rate of around just 18%. Only Greece and Portugal are behind us, and they are catching up fast.
So why the big gap? Well, for one thing, many other European countries have introduced European legislation ahead of the UK. The WEEE legislation, which governs the manufacture and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment, was first introduced in 2003 but only became law in the UK in 2007. While the UK has been busy piloting a variety of recycling schemes around the UK, other countries have implemented strict recycling laws already. Switzerland has introduced a ‘pay as you throw' policy with householders paying around one Euro for each bag of rubbish they throw out. In Germany, residents are expected to sort their rubbish into one of five colour coded bins, and can be fined if this is not done properly. UK authorities have had the power to prosecute residents who don't follow published recycling guidelines since 1990 but this power has not been used. A fixed penalty fine of between £75 and £110 introduced in January 2007 may prove easier to use.
However, the idea of penalties and punishments is not popular. Instead, UK authorities have experimented with a range of reward systems. These have included vouchers for local attractions given to households who use the kerbside recycling schemes, money for local projects and prize draws. One local authority recently gave away an environmentally friendly car.
The government too, seems to prefer incentives rather than penalties in order to increase recycling. Over the last few years Local Authorities have had to meet recycling targets but in 2007 these targets were frozen for all but the very worst performing authorities. Some authorities are now only required to recycle 20% of their household waste. This is a far cry from the 50% which environmental groups are calling for.
Recycling Options for the Future
So what are the big recycling issues going to be for 2007/2008? Plastic bags are still a major problem. Scotland recently halted its plans to bring in a tax on plastic bags, arguing that the problem was being effectively tackled by voluntary efforts. The UK currently uses about eight billion plastic bags a year. Ireland, on the other hand, saw a 97% decrease in plastic bag use when it introduced a compulsory tax on supermarket shopping bags in 2002. Interestingly, it is Asian countries which seem to be leading the campaign against plastic bags with Bangladesh and Taiwan both introducing bans.
Batteries are also in line for a recycling makeover. At present less than 3% of batteries are recycled in the UK. Given their dangerous chemical components and the fact that they take hundreds of years to break down, this is a major problem. A number of schemes are being trialled. Some authorities are including batteries in their kerbside collections, retail outlets such as Tesco, Currys and Argos will introduce collection points, two London authorities are trialling community drop off points and some rural districts in Scotland are trialling postal schemes.
Keen recyclers continue to complain at the lack of facilities for recycling plastic. At present, only a very few types of plastic are recycled. Identifying the tiny marks on the bottom of the bottles makes it a tedious job for some, and impossible for anyone with less than perfect vision. Switzerland is often praised for its record of recycling over 80% of its plastic drinks bottles. What is less often mentioned is the tax of 4 cents charged on every drinks bottle. The tax is then used to help finance the recycling schemes.
Clearly then, increasing recycling rates relies on a combination of incentives and penalties. A carrot and stick approach. It seems the UK favours the carrot and will continue to rely heavily on voluntary participation in recycling schemes. The question is, will this be enough to help us catch up with our European neighbours?
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