England fails to reach household waste recycling target

theguardian.com:

Recycling rates in England are falling and the government has failed to meet its target to recycle 50% of waste from households by 2020. But Wales has become a world leader, with the country recycling 56.5% of its household waste.

Household recycling rates in England went down from 46% in 2019 to 44% in 2020. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the Covid pandemic had disrupted collections in some areas.

The Welsh government said its high rate of household recycling had prevented more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2 a year from being released into the atmosphere and further accelerating climate change. Data shows that Wales was the only UK nation to reach the minimum 50% recycling target by 2020 set by the European Union.

The minister for climate change in the Welsh government, Julie James, said: “Our recycling stats are world class thanks to a Team Wales effort. Despite the pandemic and all the challenges it bought with it, local authorities managed to prioritise recycling, the collectors worked heroically all the way through, and the fantastic people of Wales continued to recycle.

“We must now continue to raise our ambitions to reach zero waste by 2050 and net zero carbon emissions so we can tackle the climate and nature emergencies in earnest, and pass on a resilient, green and prosperous planet to our future generations.”

The amount of waste generated in the UK continues to rise. UK households produced 27m tonnes of waste in 2020, an increase of 2.1% from 2019. England is responsible for the vast majority of the waste, 22.6m tonnes, or 84% of the UK total. Most household waste is made up of food, paper, cardboard, glass bottles and plastics.

Only forty-four per cent of the 2.5m tonnes of plastic packaging