A Daily Telegraph survey which stated that more than 200,000 tonnes of household items put out for recycling were being landfilled or incinerated every year does not show the real picture of recycling in the country.
Data gathered by Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Local Government Association (LGA) shows that councils are continuing to move most of the recycling materials. Liz Goodwin, WRAP Chief Executive, said "Let's be clear, the vast majority of material put out for recycling is recycled. Almost ten million tonnes of waste was recycled in the UK last year, so if the 200,000 tonnes going to landfill figure is correct, that represents a tiny fraction (2%) and means that 98% of the material put out for recycling is actually recycled.
“There will always be some material put out for recycling which just cannot be recycled, perhaps because people have not understood the local arrangements. But the amount is marginal compared to the amount of material which is correctly sorted.
Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee chief executive Lee Marshall echoed Goodwin’s stance: “Stories like [The Telegraph’s] are unhelpful as they do not present the true picture and undermine the good work that local authorities do on recycling.”
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