Excluding IBA metal, the UK-wide recycling rate was 43.7% in 2021.
The figures were revealed by the department in its ‘UK statistics on waste’ database. These are the figures which were previously sent to the European Commission for approval and give a clearer indication of the recycling rate for all four nations.
The household recycling rate increased in all UK countries in 2021 except Northern Ireland. The recycling rate for England was 44.1%, 48.4% in Northern Ireland, 41.7% in Scotland, and 56.7% in Wales.
Using the Eurostat statistics for the European Union for 2021, a 44.6% rate would rank the UK eighth, between France on 45.1% and Lithuania on 44.3%. for 2021. Countries such as Italy and Austria, who recorded higher rates in 2020, are still to submit data.
The 0.2 percentage point rise in recycling was also not enough to wipe out the 1.6% fall recorded in 2020 as the Covid pandemic took its toll. Defra however reiterated that the reporting period for some of these statistics coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdowns.
Measure
The recycling rate is calculated using the overall waste from households figure, “the agreed harmonised UK measure used to report household recycling”.
Total UK waste from households generation was 27.7 million tonnes in 2021, an increase of 2.4% from 2020.
Landfill
UK biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill increased to 6.8 million tonnes in 2021 from 6.1 million tonnes in 2020.
Biodegradable municipal waste is the fraction of municipal waste that will decompose. Amongst other materials it will include food waste, green waste, cardboard and paper.
Packaging
Figures for 2021 show that 63.2% of UK packaging waste was recycled in 2021, 0.1 percentage points up from 2020.
Steel recorded the highest recycling rate under the packaging waste obligations, as outlined below, while wood was the lowest with 44%,
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