A Better Way to Recycle: co-operative and community ... - Urbed

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2. The waste problemshows that kerbside recycling is increasing as away of collecting waste materials. In 2002/03most materials were collected by localauthorities, with private or voluntaryorganisations recorded as being responsible forcollecting only around 1% of the total materials.A range of materials are collected fromhouseholds for recycling. The most up-to-datedata showing the types of materials recycled isthe Municipal Waste Management Survey2002/03. The survey shows that for the firsttime, compostable waste was the most commonFigure 3: Types of materials recycled fromhouseholds in England, 2002/03Source: Defra – Municipal WasteManagement Survey 2002/03CompostPaper and CardGlassScrap Metal/ White GoodsTextilesCansPlasticsCo-mingledOthermaterial collected for recycling, increasing by24% on 2001/02 levels. This may be due to theincrease in kerbside collection schemes forcompostable waste. Paper and card, which waspreviously the most common material, stillcomprised 30% of the total material collected,and increased by 15% on 2001/02 levels. Theamount of glass collected increased by 11% to13% of the total material collected.The amount of scrap metal and white goodscollected stayed fairly constant. The amount ofcans collected within household waste is verysmall at just 1%. However, they have a veryhigh energy recovery rate, which means thereare particularly strong environmental benefits inrecycling them. Co-mingled materials caninclude a combination of paper and card, cans,plastics and textiles, which means that theindividual waste streams for these materialsmay actually be higher than appears in thestatistics, due to their inclusion in theco-mingled fraction.There are strong regional variations regardingthe amount of waste that is recycled. Thehighest household recycling rate in 2003/04 wasin the East of England at 23.3%. The South Eastand South West were also among the topregions for recycling levels. The lowest was theNorth East region with a figure of 11.9%; theNorth East also had the lowest figure at 6.6% in2002/03, but has made the biggest percentagegain of 5.3% in recycling levels. Sub-regionaldifferences also exist, such as recycling rates of12% in Stockport compared to 2% inManchester in 2002/03.The composition of household waste that isrecycled can vary substantially betweenauthorities. Whilst the data for the 2003/04survey have not been fully analysed yet, thedata from the Municipal Waste ManagementSurvey 2002/03 shows that in London, 46% ofmaterial collected for recycling was paper, whilstin non-metropolitan regions, the dominantmaterial source was organic material forcomposting at 34%.2.3 Commercial and industrial wasteIn 1998/1999, commercial and industrial wasteaccounted for 75 million tonnes 6 . Industry wasthe largest producer with 50 million tonnes ofA Better Way to Recycle 11
2. The waste problemthe total waste, whilst commerce accounted for25 million tonnes. These are the most recentfigures obtained from a survey carried out bythe Environment Agency of around 20,000industrial and commercial businesses in 1998/9.The Environment Agency is currently carryingout a second survey and the results areexpected soon.The main industrial waste stream (25%) ismineral waste and residues, with a further 20%of general industrial waste. The individual sectorthat produced the most waste was the basicmetals sector with nine million tonnes (31% ofwaste was landfilled, 31% re-used and 34%recycled). The food, drink and tobacco industrysector produced just over seven million tonnes(35% was landfilled, 17% re-used and 26%recycled) and the utilities industry sectorproduced just under seven million tonnes (49%was landfilled, 49% recycled and only 0.4% reused).These figures show that there is a lot ofpotential for increasing re-use and recyclingrates, and increasing legislation and reducedlandfill space means that industry needs to findalternatives to the traditional wastemanagement option of landfill. This is madeeven more urgent by the reclassification ofsome waste streams through theimplementation of the Hazardous WasteRegulations 2005 and the limitations on theacceptance of such materials at many landfillsites.In the commercial sector, waste streams are lessvaried and 75% is classified as generalcommercial waste with paper and card makingup 10%. Retail produces the most waste ataround just under six million tonnes (50% ofwaste is landfilled, 28% is recycled and only 2%is re-used). Travel agents and other types ofservice business produce five million tonnes ofwaste (59% is landfilled, 18% recycled and 1%re-used) whilst the hotel and catering sectorproduces just under four million tonnes of waste(60% of waste is landfilled, 15% recycled andonly 0.9% re-used). With such heavy use of thelandfilling option, there is a large potential forincreasing re-use and recycling rates.Within the individual waste streams, the mostrecycled materials are mineral wastes andresidue, and metals and scrap equipment.Mineral wastes and residue are also the most reused.The lowest rates of re-use and recyclingare for paper and card, and construction anddemolition wastes.Overall, the re-use and recycling rates inindustry and commerce are higher than formunicipal waste, at 44% for the industrial sectorand 24% for the commercial sector. Thesehigher recovery and recycling rates can bepartially explained by the increased financialincentives applicable in these sectors such ashigher landfill costs for hazardous waste andalso the lack of suitable landfill sites, as well asthe commercial awareness of the cost of wasteand the potential value that it may have.There are a number of barriers to recycling. Forexample, plastic packaging accounts for 20% ofthe weight of all packaging and 53% of allgoods are packaged in plastics. However, only23% of plastic packaging waste was recycled inthe UK in 2001. This is partially because plastichas a high volume to weight ratio, which canmake recycling collections of plastic packagingwaste less efficient than the collection of otherrecyclables which weigh more 7 . This isparticularly the case for kerbside collectionsfrom municipal sources. In addition, manyplastics are ‘contaminated’ with other materialse.g. two plastics in one product (bottles andlabels made of different types of plastic), or areintrinsically mixed with other materials toachieve properties suitable for use e.g. flameretardants in plastic cable coatings. This‘contamination’ can make recycling uneconomicor impracticable.The lack of end-markets for mixed and singlestream plastics also forms a barrier to increasedplastics recycling. This is mainly because thefood packaging industry, the biggest singlemarket for plastics, has been reluctant to userecycled plastic because of concerns about foodsafety. However, a method of addressing thisproblem is by enclosing the recycled plasticbetween layers of virgin plastic to ensure thepackaging conforms to hygiene standards.2.4 Construction and demolition wasteThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister(ODPM) estimated that the construction anddemolition waste in England and Wales was 93.912The National Centre for Business & Sustainability
Page 1 and 2: A Better Wayto Recycle:co-operative
Page 3 and 4: A Better Way to RecycleThe author o
Page 5: ContentsFiguresFig. 1: Estimated to
Page 8 and 9: 1. Introduction1. IntroductionWaste
Page 10 and 11: 2. The waste problem2.1 The scale o
Page 14 and 15: 2. The waste problemmillion tones i
Page 16 and 17: 3. The recycling opportunityrecover
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Page 26 and 27: 3. The recycling opportunity3.4 Eco
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Page 32 and 33: 4. Community Recyling: a way forwar
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Page 48 and 49: Notes17 Waste and Resources Action

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