Recycling rate of waste from households in England 2010-2022

In 2022, some 43.4 percent of waste from households in England was recycled. Recycling rates plummeted in recent years due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which heavily impacted waste collection services. Recycling rates in England peaked in 2019, at 45.5 percent.

Local authority barriers

One issue with the amount of recycling that can be done in England is that not all local authorities collect the same materials. While all local authorities collect plastic bottles, not all collect plastic pots and trays, and very few collect plastic film. As a result, the recycling rate of plastic in England is far lower than other household waste materials, such as paper and cardboard.

Plastic waste exports

Another issue facing the UK's recycling industry is that it lacks the capacity to recycle all of its plastic waste domestically. Therefore, huge volumes of plastic waste are exported for recycling each year. These volumes are sometimes larger than plastic waste that is reprocessed in the UK. However, these shipments still count towards UK recycling rate targets.