Why it's important to keep recycling

Does all the waste we put out to recycle actually get recycled?

Every London borough encourages residents to recycle a range of materials in order to avoid waste being buried in landfill or burnt by incinerators, both of which are responsible for significant amounts of carbon emissions which cause climate change. Any small quantity of material which is not suitable for recycling or which is of poor quality (eg has become mouldy or rotten) will not be recycled but generally the vast majority of material is most definitely recycled.

Does mixing recyclable materials together mean that material is useless for recycling?

Some boroughs encourage residents to separate waste in different containers, and others collect recyclable waste together in one container, in which case the waste is treated and separated in order to get the maximum value from the materials. Individual boroughs decide what method of collection to adopt based on what suits their local area best and in doing so have to balance the pros and cons of each method.

Why should I bother to recycle?

There are a number of reasons why recycling is best for the environment:

• When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. If used materials are not recycled, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the earth, through mining and forestry. Recycling helps conserve precious raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.

• It makes economic sense to recycle materials. Brand new plastic for plastic bottles or new paper for newsprint can cost up to ten times more than recycled bottles and recycled paper.

• Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than is required to produce new products from raw materials – even when comparing all associated costs including transport, etc. Plus there are extra energy savings because more energy is required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials ready for industry compared with providing industry-ready materials.

• Recycling reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials, all of which create substantial air and water pollution. As recycling saves energy it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to tackle climate change. Current UK recycling is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of C02 a year – the equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road.

• Boroughs face hefty fines in the near future if they do not reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, which could lead to higher council taxes. When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites reduces. There are over 1,500 landfill sites in the UK. In 2001 these sites produced a quarter of the UK’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Does recycling material get shipped to China - does this make environmental sense?

In the last decade UK households have drastically increased their recycling rate, which is up to 30 per cent compared with 7 per cent ten years ago. We collect more paper than we can currently recycle and there is strong demand for it from growing economies, such as China. A WRAP study found that the carbon emissions created by shipping the waste to China are just one third of the emissions created if China produced new paper and plastic from scratch. The UK does not currently have the facilities to treat all of our ‘waste’ therefore it is shipped to emerging economies, such as China, on ships that would otherwise go back with no cargo.

Is recycling the only environmentally friendly way to dispose of waste?

We can all make efforts to cut down on the amount of waste we produce in the first place - for example, opting for reusable bags rather than plastic ones and choosing food items with less packaging. We can reuse items such as furniture and clothes by passing them on to charities and friends, or find alternative uses, for example using jam jars for storage.

Beyond that, recycling is the most environmentally friendly method we have for waste treatment. As technology advances alternative treatment methods for our waste will play a major part in the reduction of waste to landfill and the reduction of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. For example, there is great potential to use waste to create greener energy.

Hasn't the value of some recyclable materials fallen?

While the value of some materials has fallen, London boroughs are not currently (February 2009) reporting any difficulties with recycling the materials that they are collecting. They are monitoring this situation.