Tuesday, 6 March 2012, 4:43 PM
On 27 February the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) published Scottish local authority recycling statistics for the period July-September 2011. On average, councils recycled 43.6% of household waste collected during this period – on a par with the average for the previous quarter.
Key information includes:
- Half of local authorities have increased their recycling rate from the previous quarter (April-June 2011).
- Ten out of 32 local authorities recycled more than 50% of their household waste, compared to 12 for the April-June quarter.
- About 18,000 tonnes less waste was generated during July-September compared to April-June. This resulted in about 10,000 tonnes less waste going to landfill and less waste being recycled.
In accordance with the Scottish Government’s Zero Waste Plan, from April 2011 only household waste is being used to measure Scotland’s progress towards the recycling targets. Non-domestic properties - which were previously counted – are now excluded.
The statistics also take account of a new definition for recycling, which clarifies what does and does not count as recyclable.
The Scottish Government has set a target rate for the recycling and composting of municipal waste of 50% by 2013.
Access ‘Waste data - recycling rate in Scotland’ for July-September 2011 and April-June 2011 on the SEPA website
here.
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