6 out of 43 councils in North West are currently hitting the UK government household waste recycling targets of 50% by the year 2020. View the Recycling Rate map to see if your council is meeting the targets.
Some councils in the North West are setting a prime example for the UK, though the majority fall below the target number with little time to address this before 2020.
Trafford has the highest recycling rate in the North West and ranks 16th in England with 58.5%. Next highest in the North West is Cheshire Wes
The recycling rate map, produced by waste experts InSinkErator, aims to raise awareness of the need to encourage recycling if the local authorities are to hit the UK target of 50% by 2020.
Note: This is a still image, please follow this link for interactive map. Embed codes available upon request.
6 out of the 43 councils in the North West are exceeding the current UK target of 50% for recycling rates, but some of those are just scraping through, and 37 councils in the North West are not hitting target.
Barrow-in-Furness is the worst performing in the North West, and ranks as the 3rd worst in England, with a recycling rate of 19.6%. Next lowest performing is Liverpool (26.6%) followed by Preston (29.8%). There is clearly so much more that needs to be done to encourage consistently high recycling rates across the North West, especially in these key areas.
One issue which needs to see vast improvement is food waste which is at crisis levels in the UK. Although food waste being sent to composting is increasing year-on-year, 20% of all food that is produced is still being thrown away. Despite this, food waste remains a small proportion of waste collected in the UK at just 2%.
Collected garden waste accounts for 17% of the total, 26% is dry recycling such as card and plastic, and finally 55% is residual waste from regular black bin bags which is not recycled.
The complete rankings for North West recycling rates can be found here: https://datawrapper.
The UK government has highlighted five strategic principles to ensure the target is made:
1 To provide recycling incentives
2 To prevent waste from occurring in the first place, and manage it better if it does
3 To ensure the ‘polluter pays’ principle by putting the onus on the manufacturers
4 For the UK to lead by example, both domestically and internationally
5 To not allow ambition to be undermined by criminality
Chris Vella-Bone, the Ecommerce Manager for Europe and Russia at InSinkErator, comments on the latest results release, saying:
“The recycling data from DEFRA is a great opportunity to make a real change for the future of our planet. At InSinkErator, we believe that everyone should be aware of the impact that all kinds of waste can have on our environment.
Food waste in particular is a growing issue. With the increasing amount of unavoidable food waste generated in the home, and the difficulty for many to dispose of it, a food waste disposer is a discrete asset to any home.”
We have a range of interactive maps available for you to use. See them here below and let us know if you would like the codes to embed them on your site to write around: https://insinkerator.
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