British recycling fanaticism achieves nothing

They were supposed to bring about a green revolution, forcing families to recycle more and send less to landfill. But fortnightly rubbish collections and strict ‘bin police’ have barely had an effect, according to official figures.

Despite the pressure of fewer bin rounds and tough rules imposed by councils, the recycling revolution has ground to a halt. The amount of rubbish sent for recycling has increased by a tiny margin and the town hall campaign to compel people to throw out less waste is also in trouble, with only a minuscule reduction in the amount left for binmen to collect.

Over the past two years, dozens of councils have switched to fortnightly collections, complicated kitchen slopbucket systems or straightforward rubbish rationing. At least 13 have cut back on refuse collections in the time since last year’s general election, and more are set to follow.

One Tory-led council, Wokingham in Berkshire, plans to restrict rubbish collections to 80 small sacks a year for everyone but large families. The stated aim is to push up recycling figures and reduce refuse. This, councils say, will cut the amounts sent to landfill, so avoiding Treasury landfill tax and EU fines due to come in next year, as well as reducing the ‘greenhouse gases’ linked to climate change.

But figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs yesterday suggest that householders have fallen out of love with recycling. In the year to June 2010, the total amount of waste destined for landfill sites fell just 0.3 per cent to 26.5million tonnes – seven times less than the average annual drop of 2.2 per cent over the previous five years.

And figures for the second quarter of 2010 show that the amount sent for recycling rose by just 0.4 per cent over three months, reaching 40.1 per cent of all household refuse. The quarterly increase is tiny compared with the 330 per cent rise in household recycling over the previous nine years.

The weak results suggest that coercive methods are no longer yielding results for town halls trying to cut the amount of waste they collect and send to landfill. It leaves reductions in spending as the only remaining reason for the introduction of fortnightly collections and rubbish rationing.

The fall-off follows a warning from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles that council methods are fostering resentment among voters. He said: ‘There is genuine anger that in the last decade their council tax bills have doubled but their bin collections have halved. ‘In their experience, the iron fist of the municipal state has come down on everyday people for the most minor of bin breaches.’

Doretta Cocks, of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collections, said yesterday: ‘These are poor figures. Over the past two years we have had large numbers of councils moving to food waste collections with incredibly complicated recycling rules. ‘This is now entirely out of hand. They are not contributing any service for their money and they are losing people’s goodwill. ‘There is now a stalemate – ­people want to recycle but they are fed up with the stupid rules, the bin police and the fines.’

The Local Government Association, which represents town halls, insisted the initiatives are a success. Environment chief Gary Porter said: ‘The figures are another sign that councils and residents are working well to increase recycling rates and, more importantly, reduce landfill. ‘It is very encouraging to see recycling rates continue to rise.’

But Environment Minister Lord Henley warned councils not to force the issue. He said: ‘The best way to encourage people to recycle is not to punish families with bin taxes and bin fines as the previous administration did, but to encourage and reward them for going green.

‘This is good news that we have got this far, and as part of the waste review we’re looking at how to make it even easier for us all to do the right thing.’

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