UK recycled 44.9% in 2014

26th August 2016 | Recycling

New Defra figures show that the UK recycled 44.9% of waste in 2014. The figures are the most recent available and give an indication as to whether the UK is on track to meet the EU target of recycling 50% of household waste by 2020.

The 44.9% figure in 2014 is higher than 2013 (44.1%) and 2010 (40.4%). Other figures show UK biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) sent to landfill has continued to reduce and in 2014 was 8.7m tonnes, which is 24% of the 1995 baseline value. In 2013 this figure was 26%, which easily met the 2013 EU target (no greater than 50% of the 1995 baseline).

There is a further EU target to restrict BMW landfill to 35% of the 1995 baseline by 2020: in 2013, 72.7% of UK packaging waste was either recycled or recovered, compared with 69.1% in 2012.
The UK generated 200 million tonnes of total waste in 2012, of which half was generated by construction: commercial and industrial activities generated 24%, and households 14%.

More information available on the website below

http://www.ciwm-journal.co.uk/uk-recycled-44-9-2014-new-defra-figures-show/