How Green Is The UK?

The most recent waste statistics from 2018 show there’s a fair way to go yet as every level declined versus the previous year. For example, the UK recycling rate for waste from households at 45%, which was actually a reduction from 45.5% in 2017. Not only this, but the UK biodegradable municipal waste had fallen from approximately 7.4 million tonnes in 2017, to 7.2 million tonnes in 2018. The decline here is particularly surprising as Blue Planet II hit screens at the end of 2017, and seemed to be a turning point for so many – but we’ve not seen that reflected in these statistics.

Packaging is, arguably, the biggest and best opportunity for recycling, and 2017 figures show that 70% of UK packaging waste was either recycled or recovered. Impressive, but still a reduction from 71.4% in 2016. As these are the latest statistics from DEFRA, we’re unable to see just yet if Blue Planet II had any impact here as we’d expect. But given the decline in 2018 for the overall recycling rate shown above, it seems that people aren’t yet putting their pledges into action.

With that being said, it is still a significant improvement compared to where the UK was in 2004, where recycling rates were a measly 23%, and have almost doubled to 45% in 2018.

How Green Are English Councils?

With England responsible for 85% of the total UK waste, let’s see who the worst offending culprits are, and who’s putting them to shame:

If your council isn’t featured on either of these lists, have a look at all 345 English councils recycling rates and see how your local authority compares.

How Green Are The UK Countries?

We know that in 2018, the UK as whole had a recycling rate of 45%, but how did the individual countries compare?

Wales led the way with over half, 54.1%, of their waste getting recycled, putting Scotland’s 42.8% recycling rate to shame.

How Green Is The UK Compared To The Rest Of Europe?

The UK’s recycling rate is fairly average compared to the rest of Europe. Germany is miles ahead of the rest of the continent with over two thirds of their waste getting recycled. Malta has the worst recycling rate in Europe, with just 6% of their waste getting recycled, making no improvements in over 10 years. Romania is second worst with a 14% recycling rate, but this has improved significantly over the past 13 years as previously just 1% of their waste was recycled. 

How Green Is The UK Compared To The Rest Of The World?

The UK as a whole sit 16th on the world recycling rate league table, but Wales by itself actually comes in 3rd place. Germany isn’t beaten and continues to lead the way with their impressive 68% recycling rate, with Singapore taking 2nd spot with an impressive 60.6% of waste getting recycled.The US sits in 25th position with a recycling rate of 34.6%, and powerhouses such as China, India, and Russia don’t feature in the top 25 and are much further down the list.

So, overall, the UK isn’t doing badly, but there’s a long way to go yet. The massive disparity in recycling rates by each English council really highlights the issue; there’s no consistency. If we’re going to take recycling seriously, which we absolutely need to be, then as many materials need to be collected as possible, regardless of which council is responsible. For the UK rates to increase as a whole, each individual nation needs to do their bit, and Wales already are, so it’s over to Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England, to follow suit. We need to be the change we want to see so we can improve and lead the way moving forwards.