Waste Recycled
Indicator
The amount of waste recycled
Status
The amount of waste recycled in Worcestershire is good, and
improving.
Overview
Worcestershire is aiming to recycle and compost as much waste as
possible through kerbside collections, recycling sites, household
waste sites and treatment processes. The national target for
recycling and composting was 25% for 2005/06 and 40% for 2010.
The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is a framework that sets out the
priorities for the Worcestershire area, agreed by central
Government, local authorities and partner agencies. One of the
priorities in the LAA is "To maximise the diversion of waste away
from landfill through prevention, reuse, recycling/composting and
recovery".
For more info go to the Worcestershire Partnership Local Area
Agreement pages.
Performance
In 2007/08, 75,739 tonnes (27.81 percent) of household waste was
recycled in Worcestershire. In the same period, 28,702 tonnes
(10.54 percent) of green waste was composted.
According to the most recent data from the Environment Agency
for the year 2002/03, 121,000 tonnes (37.7 percent) of all
industrial waste, and 96,000 tonnes (31.3 percent) of all
commercial waste was recycled or re-used.
In 2007/08 Worcestershire recycled or composted 38.4 percent,
over one third, of its household waste and continued a steady
improvement in diverting waste away from landfill.
In terms of industrial recycling, the county is not performing
as well as in previous years. According to the most recent
Environment Agency data, Worcestershire recycled or re-used 37.7
percent of its industrial waste in 2002/03, compared with 64.2
percent in 1998. However, during this time, the County also
experienced a significant reduction, of 42.6 percent, in the amount
of industrial waste generated.
Commercial recycling/re-use of waste increased by 3.8 percent
between 1998 and 2002/03, from 27.5 percent to 31.3 percent.
The following represents the most recent available data relating
to recycling in Worcestershire:
Household Waste
Worcestershire produced 272,356 tonnes of household waste in
2007/08 of which 38.35 percent was recycled or composted.
Industrial Waste
Worcestershire produced 321,000 tonnes of industrial waste in
2002/03 of which 37.7 percent was recycled or re-used.
Commercial Waste
Worcestershire produced 307,000 tonnes of commercial waste in
2002/03 of which 31.3 percent was recycled re-used.
Household recycling rates are available for local authority
level. In Worcestershire, the combined recycling and composting
rates are as follows:
The table shows that all six of the local authorities have
experienced an increase in recycling and composting in 2007/08
compared with the previous year.
It is also possible to monitor how extensive kerbside
collections are in each Local Authority. In 2007/08 all of the
districts collected materials from the kerbside of more than 90% of
their households, with Redditch and Worcester providing 96%
coverage and Malvern Hills 100%.
Geographical Context
In 2006/07, the latest year for which figures are available,
Worcestershire's 32.3 percent of household waste recycled/composted
was slightly higher than the corresponding figure of 28.6 percent
for the West Midlands region.
The Environment Agency C&I Survey 2002/03 shows that the
121,000 tonnes (37.7 percent) of industrial waste recycled/re-used
in Worcestershire was lower than the proportion of industrial waste
recycled in the West Midlands region (50.2 percent). The 96,000
tonnes (31.3 percent) of commercial waste recycled in
Worcestershire was lower than the corresponding figure of 40.4
percent for the West Midlands region. The latest West Midlands
Strategic Waste Assessment, in the year 2000, had shown that in
1998 Worcestershire's industrial and commercial recycling/re-use of
waste was in line with the West Midlands region, but whilst
recycling/re-use of waste has improved in Worcestershire, the
region has improved to a greater extent. Of particular significance
is the large drop in industrial recycling/re-use of waste in the
County since 1998, compared with the increase regionally. The
rapidly changing face of the industrial West Midlands may be a
significant factor here.
Actions
Worcestershire has achieved its own target of continuous year on
year improvement in recycling and composting of household waste.
The next major change in this area will be the opening of the
Envirosort facility for sorting kerbside recyclable waste.
This will extend the current range of materials that can be
collected for recycling.
Further Information
For further general information see DEFRA's Recycling and
Waste pages.
For more information on local authority waste performance visit
the Local Government Performance pages on the Department for
Communities and Local Government website.
For more information on Commercial and Industrial Waste see the
Environment Agency's
Waste in the West Midlands pages.
For more information on Worcestershire's Waste Management
programme, including ways to reduce waste and increase recycling,
see the Waste
Management pages.
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