Wales recycled 56 per cent of waste in 2014

Welsh local authorities recycled, reused and composted 56 per cent of municipal waste in the 12 months to December 2014, new figures have revealed.

According to the provisional ‘Local Authority Municipal Waste Management, October – December 2014’ statistics, released yesterday (21 May), local authorities sent two per cent more municipal waste for recycling, reuse or composting in the 2014 calendar year than they did in 2013. This figure marks the highest recycling rate that Wales has ever achieved for a full calendar year.

Commenting on the figures, Natural Resources Minister, Carl Sargeant said: “Wales continues to lead the UK with its recycling targets, exceeding those in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

However, when comparing the figures for the final quarter of 2014 with corresponding figures from the year before, the recycling, reuse and composting rate increased by less than one per cent – from 52.9 to 53.4 per cent. This bucks the trend seen in the last four years, as the figures for October to December have usually increased by at least one per cent.

The plateauing of recycling rates has been a common occurrence in other UK nations (with England’s stalling rates leading the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to state in 2013 that if recycling rates remained stagnant, England’s recycling rate would be ‘insufficient’ to meet the EU’s target of recycling 50 per cent of household waste by 2020).

If recycling rates continue to plateau - it could lead to local authorities missing the next set of statutory targets. The Welsh Government has mandated that the country reach a statutory recycling target of 58 per cent in 2015/16.  

Residual waste arisings fall

According to the figures, the total amount of local authority (LA) municipal waste (excluding abandoned vehicles) dropped in the autumn quarter, from 364,000 tonnes to 361,000 tonnes. The Welsh Government has said that the ‘general longer-term downward trend’ may have been affected by the Welsh Government’s current and previous waste strategies, both of which outline the need to reduce the amount of waste generated across Wales, as well the provision of additional funding to help councils meet targets.

The amount of residual waste generated per person in this quarter also continued to fall, from 51 kilogrammes (kg) per person in 2013 to 50kg in 2014.

Half of Wales’s 22 local authorities reported decreases in residual household waste generation per person, with Rhondda Cynon Taf reporting the largest drop (21 per cent), followed by Vale of Glamorgan and Merthyr Tydfil (both 16 per cent). Rhondda Cynon Taf’s figures can be partly explained by the council recently introducing a ban on side waste.

Although urban authorities, as a whole, generated the most residual household waste per person, the valley authority of Caerphilly reported a particularly large increase (30 per cent). This reflects both an increase in the tonnage of household waste generated in Caerphilly, and decrease in that reused, recycled or composted, during the October to December quarter. Resource has contacted Caerphilly council for an explanation as to why its figures differ from the national trend, but has not yet received a reply.

Carmarthenshire County Council achieves highest recycling rate

In terms of reuse and recycling, Welsh councils saw a marginal increase in rates, rising from 35.7 per cent in 2013 to 36.4 per cent in 2014.

Carmarthenshire County Council reported the largest increase in recycling, reuse and composting rates, with figures for the quarter rising by eight per cent on last year to 67 per cent. This was also the highest recycling, reuse and composting rate of any Welsh council.

Carmarthenshire also had the highest recycling and reuse rate, sending 53 per cent of its municipal waste for recycling or reuse.

The council has attributed the spike in recycling down to the hardcore recycling service, which takes place twice a year. 

Rhondda Cynon Taf also reported a substantial increase in recycling and reuse levels, with figures showing a seven per cent increase to 43 per cent, while Newport saw its rates rise by six per cent (to 35 per cent). Rhondda Cynon Taf has attributed its improvement to a range of actions, including the no side waste campaign, as well as increased communication on its food and green waste services.

Like overall recycling rates, composting levels also held firm at 17 per cent between October and December 2014. Neath Port Talbot reported the largest increase in composting rates (three per cent), taking its figures to 17 per cent.

Gwynedd council had the largest amount of organic waste being composted – reaching a 25 per cent rate between October and December 2014. On the flipside, Newport council saw its composting rate drop by seven per cent on the previous year’s rate. This is said to be down to the fact that the council ceased its green waste service in December for three months in the hope of saving £84,000.

The local authority with the highest reuse/recycling/composting rate in the 12 months to the end of December 2014 continued to be the rural authority of Denbighshire (66 per cent), whilst Cardiff had the lowest rate at 48 per cent.

Read the provisional waste management figures for October – December 2014