“Of the 26 million tons of waste produced in the UK, 12 million tons are recycled, and 14 million tons are sent to landfill sites. This gives us an average recycling rate of 45 percent”, waste management company Recycling Bins.Co.UK states on its homepage. But recycling in the UK is a much more complicated, difficult and challenging task.

The taxonomy of the particular waste types in the UK differs somewhat from the European system. The latest statistics from 2021, edited by the British Government under the summing up title “UK statistics on waste”, indicate “waste from household arisings” amounting to 27.6 million tons (Mt) and a recycling rate of 44.6 percent. 14 Mt of “municipal waste” including 6.7 million tons of biodegradable material went to landfill. There was 12.7 Mt of “packaging waste” with an achieved recycling rate of 63.2 percent. Waste from “commercial and industrial” activities added to 40.4 Mt. According to the paper, the generation of “non-hazardous construction and demolition waste” reached 59 Mt and a recovery rate of 92.6 percent. “Construction, demolition and excavation” including dredging waste was measured at 137.8 Mt – with 62 percent delivering the greatest share of British waste. Altogether “the UK generated 222.2 Mt of total waste in 2018”, the Crown paper balanced.

108 material recovery facilities
Looking at the source of waste production, the material results in 12 percent from households, 19 percent from commercial and industrial activities (C&I) and mainly in 62 percent by construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E). To manage this quantity, several proceeding routes are installed. The Statistics of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of 2018 made clear that the list of treatment methods included recycling and other recovery by 108.4 Mt of waste, landfill with 50.8 Mt, “land treatment and release into water bodies” with 25.7 Mt and incineration within energy recovery at 8.5 Mt. Solely incineration is designated for 7.3 Mt and backfilling for 14.2 Mt. According to Statista, numbers available for the year 2020 show 621 sites permitted for landfill, 43 facilities for incineration within energy recovery, 100 facilities for incineration and 3,279 units to recover waste other than energy recovery including backfilling. A market overview published by consultancy services provider Monksleigh in 2023 counted 108 material recovery facilities, receiving 4.277 Mt of qualified material. Among the companies, Biffa is number one, runs 19 facilities, and possesses 18 percent of the market share by tons received, followed by Suez (12/14 percent) and Veolia (11/8 percent).

Roughly 123,400 people employed
According to the Office of National Statistics, in 2022 the whole waste sector in the United Kingdom employed roughly 123,400 people, of which – with 40 percent – waste collection was the largest waste management segment, but also showed the biggest decrease of nearly 18 percent year-over-year. One-third of the employees were engaged in the waste treatment and disposal sector. The “wholesale of waste and scrap segment” pledged above 10,000 people.

Only three percent more recycled
How effectively does the waste facility park work? In a “response” paper from November 2023, the government underlined that the household recycling rates in England between 2000 and 2022 rose from 11 to 42 percent. Meanwhile, the rates “have ‘plateaued’ at around 42 percent to 44 percent”. A report on the UK recycling and waste treatment market edited by Tolvik Consulting and the Environmental Services Association (ESA) gives little encouragement that much had changed: “The total recorded tonnage of wastes accepted at all types of permitted landfills over the past ten years has remained broadly constant at circa 50Mt per annum.” And following the current homepage of Recycling Bins.Co.UK, the effects of recycling seem to be straightforward: “In the UK, we are only recycling three percent more waste than we did in 2010.”

Ten years of change and stagnation
The latest “UK statistics on waste” from 28 June 2023 balanced the main trends of waste treatment in the last years in a more detailed and illustrated way:

• The arisings concerning household waste stagnated from 2015 to 2021 at about 27 Mt and a recycling rate between 44.5 and 46 percent.
• Municipal waste to landfill between 2010 and 2021 certainly declined from some 25 to 14 Mt; the biodegradable waste that went to landfill was reduced too from 13 Mt to 6.7 Mt.
• The recovery rate of non-hazardous construction and demolition started at nearly 90 percent in 2010 and reached 92.6 percent in 2020.
• The commercial and industrial waste generation volume between 2010 and 2020 fluctuated at a guess between 43.9 and 40.0 Mt.
• Numbers addressing the change of treatment methods from 2016 to 2018 show a decline in backfilling and landfilling (-15.8 / -2.8 percent), increasing rates of incineration with and without energy recovery (+15.5 / +28.3 percent) and a small ascent of recycling and other recovery (+4.3 percent).

Important: exports
One must not forget that the UK exported waste. Following statistics from the Commercial Waste Quotes website, the nation in 2023 exported nearly 140,000 tons of plastic to Turkey, 120,000 tons to the Netherlands and some 50,000 tons to Germany – altogether about 600,000 tons. 80 percent of the 10.6 Mt of domestically generated metal scrap – i.e 8.2 Mt – were mainly sold to Turkey, Egypt, India and 15 other nations. About 700,000 tons of refuse-derived fuel went to Sweden, more than 400,000 tons to the Netherlands, and some 150,000 tons to Germany – all in all 1.6 Mt. Electronic and electrical waste (including 30,000 illegal tons) especially found buyers in Belgium (approx. 125,000 metric tons) and Spain (11,000 metric tons).

No great changes in recyclable rates
The tonnage of recyclables processed by material recycling facilities (MRF) showed no great changes between 2016 and 2021. According to MRF output numbers offered by the Monksleigh study, waste paper performed a progressive downward trend from about 150,000 to 120,000 tons, plastic and metal outputs increased slightly, while glass in 2020 nearly doubled the output of 2016 and decreased again by the pandemic. According to the official statistics, packaging waste achieved recycling rates of 76.4 percent for steel, 74.8 percent for aluminum, 73.6 percent for glass, 70.6 percent for paper and cardboard, 44.2 percent for plastics, and nearly the same for wood – a total for recycling of 63.2 percent.

“Falling short of the mark”
In 2021, the UK recycled 63.2 percent of its packaging waste and around 47 percent of waste from households – in Wales at 56.7 percent, followed by Northern Ireland at 48.4 percent, England at 44.1 percent, and Scotland at 41.7 percent. These results did not meet the recycling targets from DEFRA of 60 percent by 2030 and 65 percent by 2035. According to a fact sheet edited by Cladco, a profiles producer, “UK recycling is falling short of the mark”, as the level of potentially recyclable household waste could be 80 percent. For example, five Mt of paper per year and 14 million glass containers per day are going to be landfilled. At least something has been done to the organic wastes by households: In 2010, the UK sent 25,019 tons of municipal waste, of which 12,982 were biodegradables, to landfill. Thanks to the implementation of various policies and programs, the municipal waste that ends up in landfills went down from 25,019 tons in 2010 to 14,003 tons in 2021, of which 12,982 tons respectively 6,761 tons were biodegradables, according to official information.

“Historic landfills”
What these records conceal is the number of so-called “historic” landfills. According to The Guardian, there are more than 21,000 sites with largely unknown and potentially polluting contents. Decades ago, these places were used to “dilute and disperse” industrial and domestic waste. Since the government closed the funding program for contaminated land enforcement generally in April 2014 and for “absolutely emergency cases” in April 2017, the affected local authorities must care for and procure money themselves.

Turnover of 23.5 billion British Pounds
However, treating waste also makes money: The experts of Tolvik Consulting valued the turnover of the UK recycling and waste treatment sector at 23.5 billion (bn) Pounds – a new height, caused by increased waste tonnage values through the pandemic and market prices. The collection of commercial and industrial waste contributed six bn Pounds, the collection by Local Authorities three bn Pounds, energy from waste amounted to 2.6 bn Pounds, landfill brought 1.1bn Pounds, mechanical biological treatment added 0.3 bn Pounds and co-incineration 0.1 bn Pounds. The biggest share represented recycling with more than seven bn Pounds, composed of five bn Pounds from the metal sector, 1.2 bn Pounds from packaging, and several others: non-packaging 0.7 bn Pounds, material recovery facilities 0.5 bn Pounds, waste wood 0.4 bn Pounds, and organics, WEEE and as well bottom ash from incineration each 0.2 bn Pounds. According to the numbers of the Office of National Statistics, the 23.5bn consists of ten bn Pounds by collection, about five bn Pounds by treatment and disposal, and 18.5 bn Pounds by recovery of sorted materials and others.

To benefit the environment
The British waste policy is not only directed by the government and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (short: DEFRA), but also influenced by the activities of other organizations. For example, LARAC, The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, was formed in 1985 to represent local authority views on waste, recycling, and resource issues. The Waste and Resources Action Programme – short: WRAP – is a global environmental action NGO to “transform our broken product and food systems to create Circular Living for the benefit of climate, nature and people”. For over twenty years, WRAP delivered programs “to benefit the environment”. The Recycling Association – perceiving itself as “The Voice of the UK-Recycling Industry” – was formed in 1975. “Working with the UK Government and devolved Nations on policy, regulation and law”, it now comprises companies involved in collecting, sorting, and recycling a wide variety of materials. In May 2024, the association declared to be against the immediate introduction of a DRS scheme and recommended taking time to assess whether to introduce a Digital DRS scheme instead.

A new waste management plan
In December 2018, DEFRA published a “Resources and Waste Strategy for England”, followed by a new “Waste Management Plan for England” in January 2021. Both papers should play their part “in embedding sustainable thinking around waste management and bringing about a real step change in how we consume resources”, said Rebecca Pow in a ministerial foreword. The intention of the management plan was “not to introduce new policies or to change the landscape of how waste is managed in England”, but to “bring current waste management policies under the umbrella of one national plan”: Clean Growth Strategy, Industrial Strategy, Litter Strategy, UK-Plan for Shipments of Wastes and the National Policy Statements for Hazardous Waste and Renewable Energy Infrastructure. In September 2021, an updated “UK plan for shipments of waste” followed, “prohibiting imports and exports of waste to and from the UK for disposal”. DEFRA argued that the plan was “to reflect the UK’s departure from the EU in 2019, in addition to certain policy and minor technical changes” and to implement “self-sufficiency in waste disposal”. (The latest “UK statistics on waste” occurred on 28th June, 2023. So it is not yet documented, whether these plans were or at least could have been effective.)

New government, new goals
In June 2024, short before the general election, the Conservative and Unionist Party Manifesto 2024 appeared. It included a ban on future incinerators and a promise to revoke permits for plants that have not yet undergone substantial construction. But the next month, the Labour Party won the majority in Parliament by general election. Three years ago, at their annual conference, designated green chancellor Rachel Reeves had already announced an additional 28 billion Pounds in capital investment for every year of this decade in the green economy. According to The Guardian, in February 2024, Reeves reduced the plan to under 15 bn Pounds and finally to 4.7 bn Pounds. Albeit Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, officially declared “to make Britain a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030, and accelerating our journey to net zero”. And Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, even pledged to make his town zero waste.

Online magazine MRW compared the election with an “independence day for many in the waste and recycling sector, who hope that a new administration can set the resources and waste strategy free from the Conservatives’ constraints”. The online portal letsrecycle.com cited Jacob Hayler, ESA Executive Director, expecting a “more resource-efficient, lower-carbon, circular economy in the UK”. Furthermore, he looked forward to a policy “that will allow our members to invest billions in world-class new recycling infrastructure and services”. LARAC welcomed the new government and “asked it to prioritize key waste management reforms”, among others the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging producers.

Neither ambitious nor radical
In July 2024, Recycling Today reported that recycling, waste conversion, and alternative energy trade groups hopefully awaited “a boost in government support for their sectors”. But the online magazine also cited Shaun Spiers, executive director of the Green Alliance: “This was not an election fought largely on environmental issues.” The waste management company FCC Environment was skeptical too: Waste and recycling may “not be in forefront of Minister’s mind” and not be an area that they are planning to be particularly ambitious or radical. And Jennifer Brown, associate director at Grant Thornton UK, published on lets- recycle.com, that at the time there was a “critical juncture in the approach to waste management in the UK” and that “Labour must not be short-sighted”. According to FCC-Environment in July 2024, certainty and stability were wanted, steady policy progress too, “suitable conditions for investment”, the creation of thousands of green jobs, the delivery of infrastructure, and all in all, a “progress to continue and provide a stable environment for further investment”. At the same time, the online magazine MRW titled shortly that “the industry wants some real action from new ministers”.

Some real action wanted
That something had to be done, the members of the Environmental Services Association already stated in June 2021. To reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions ahead of and faster than the conservative government’s deadline, the ESA set out a detailed plan to cut eight percent of UK total greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2040. For this purpose, the ESA members were ready “to invest ten bn Pounds of new money in recycling infrastructure to drive up recycling rates and cut down waste” and to increase capture of methane emissions, the Green Business Journal wrote. ESA chairman Gavin Graveson underlined: “Our report also shows that done right, decarbonization can deliver green jobs and investment right across the UK.”

In November 2022, the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee called on the government to work with industry to unlock one billion Pounds of investment in domestic plastic reprocessing infrastructure. According to waste management company Viridor, this investment could deliver 46 new industrial facilities across the UK, create 1,100 permanent skilled green jobs and a further 975 in the supply chain, and deliver economic benefits of more than three bn Pounds over 25 years. In November 2023, the British Business Bank’s 200 million Pounds South West Investment Fund announced its first major equity deal with a 500,000 Pounds equity investment in tech-led commercial waste and recycling business Binit. According to a parliament paper on “The price of plastic” in November 2022, the Environment Agency committed to continue allocating ten million Pounds to waste crime enforcement in 2022/23. Another source cites the Environment Agency estimating waste crime costing the UK economy one bn Pounds every year.

Investments are essential
Investment in the British waste recycling sector is utterly necessary – from national as well as international view. The question will be whether the politics will begin and succeed in acquiring the essential investment funds to pave the way for a cleaner environment and a waste economy that pays off. Already in 2019, Tony Goodman, director of waste disposal company Crawleys, highlighted that “investment in the UK’s recycling infrastructure is needed … and fast!”

(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2025, Page 26, Photo: KATR O / stock.adobe.com (Generated with AI))

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