3 out ot 4 Councils sending your recycled rubbish to landfill
Household rubbish put out for recycling is being dumped in landfill sites or sent to incinerators by three out of four councils, a Daily Telegraph investigation has discovered. Up to 200,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was dumped last year with some councils failing to recycle over 10 per cent of glass, paper, plastic and other materials left out by conscientious homeowners. The amount dumped this year is expected to rise sharply as councils struggle to sell recyclable waste during the economic downturn. The disclosure will anger millions of British families, many of whom are being forced to sort their waste into five different waste bins - including new "food slop" containers - to allow it to be recycled. Over the Christmas period families will generate more recycling waste from wrapping paper, bottles and cardboard packaging than at any other time of year. But with prices for recycled material falling, increasing volumes will end up dumped or destroyed. Under the Labour Government, councils have adopted increasingly controversial tactics to meet waste disposal guidelines, with half scrapping weekly bin collections to force people to recycle more. The Government is also pressing ahead with trials for new bin taxes in the Spring which will see fines levied on households which throw out too much rubbish. Most councils collect recycling from the kerbside and then pay for contractors to take it off their hands. The contractors are responsible for processing the materials. While the economy was booming there was high demand for recycled products. However, in recent months the global downturn has hurt prices for scrap metal and recycled plastic and other materials, making dumping waste a more attractive option. Environmental experts last night said that the actions of the councils may undermine attempts to encourage households to recycle more waste. Neil Rippon, managing director of Greencycle, a recycling contractor, said: "If residents know their recycling is going to landfill what incentive is there for residents to recycle it?" Eric Pickles, the Conservatives' Local Government Secretary, said: "This once again shatters the Government's green credentials. "Labour's idea of recycling is dumping huge mountains of rubbish on landfill sites and in warehouses fuelling the 80 million strong rat population. The sad reality is that families who want to go green can't under Labour. "Hardworking households feeling the pinch are being clobbered with bin fines, bin cuts and bin taxes." The Daily Telegraph surveyed all 400 councils across England and Wales. Of the 209 which replied, more than 75 per cent admitted to sending at least some of their recyclable waste to landfill sites or incinerators. With landfill tax standing at £32 per tonne councils are potentially spending an extra £6.4million sending recycling to be dumped. Landfill tax will rise to £40 per tonne next year, sending the potential cost spiralling to £8million. The councils responding to the survey admitted dumping a total of 100,503 tonnes of recyclable waste in landfill or sending it to incinerators in the 2007/08 financial year. If the figure is extrapolated to all councils in England, it suggests that nearly 200,000 tonnes of recycling is being dumped every year. In the survey, the worst offenders were Medway and Peterborough councils which sent 11 per cent of their total recyclable waste - including materials deposited at bottlebanks and in composting facilities - to landfill sites and incinerators. Pembrokeshire Council said 19 per cent of all kerbside recycling would end up in landfill. Derbyshire County Council revealed up to 30 per cent of recyclable cans will end up not being recycled. Leeds City Council, whose local MP is environment secretary Hilary Benn, said it dumped four per cent of waste earmarked for recycling every year. Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: "People are constantly lectured on recycling and threatened with fines if they don't comply, so it's outrageous that councils are just throwing the stuff away." The economic downturn has led to a sharp fall in the price of raw materials and therefore the demand for recyclable material has also dropped dramatically. Many councils are left with large amounts of waste that they are unable to sell for recycling. Some councils have also admitted sending waste for recycling to the Far East to be processed, producing a carbon footprint that raises major question marks about the environmental benefits of the process. Paul Levett, managing director for Veolia Environmental Services which handles recycling for 100 local authorities, said: "Manufacturing and reprocessing sectors in the UK are not large enough to create significant demand for the volume of materials that is now being recycled." A survey by the Local Government Association found that five per cent of local authorities are having to store recyclable materials for longer than usual. At Plymouth Council they are still stockpiling recyclable materials from 2006. An association spokesman said: "Councils strive to ensure that as much can be recycled as possible after families take the time to do their bit for the environment. Some of the councils with the worst records admitted they could do better. A spokesman for Havering Council, which dumped 10.4 per cent of its waste, said: "Only a tiny fraction of the 13 million tonnes of household waste put out for recycling does not end up being recycled. "We feel that we could improve the contamination rate, which is why we are running a campaign next year to reduce it and improve participation in our kerbside service." Wayne Fitzgerald, the councillor in charge of recycling at Peterborough City Council which dumped 11 per cent, said: "I think 11 per cent is not a bad figure because only five per cent goes to landfill and the rest goes to incinerators and is used for fuel." A Medway council spokesman disputed the Government’s official figures which showed that 11 per cent of its waste is incinerated or dumped in landfill. He said: “The waste is mixed in the collection hall making it impossible to state which are any authority’s materials and hence the exact proportion of contaminated, and therefore non-recyclable waste sent to landfill that was collected in Medway. “The recycling rate that Medway shares with its residents takes into account any rejections. Approximately 30 per cent of all waste collected by the council is recycled or sent to compost.” Carmarthenshire County Council, which dumped 7.7 per cent of its waste, said: "We have identified areas where the quality of materials put into the blue bags needs improving. "In the New Year waste services officers will be deployed to these areas to actively engage with residents to encourage improvement in quality." A spokesman for Bedfordshire County Council, which dumped 8.5 per cent of material sent for recycling, said: "No recycling is sent to landfill, only contaminated and non-recyclable waste is sent. "From January 2009 we will be introducing facilities to recycle a greater number of plastics which will immediately reduce the percentage of waste sent to landfill. The Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs said: "There is a strong incentive for local authorities and recycling facilities to minimise the amount of contaminated recycling due to the cost of extra material going to landfill as well as the loss of revenue from recycled materials."
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