Recycling at record levels

Recycling has reached record levels in St. Helens and across the UK.

My colleague, the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, confirmed that people all over the UK are recycling more now than at any other time – and that the Government is on track to meet its pledge of helping people to recycle 40 per cent of their household waste by 2010.

For us locally in the North West, recycling was up almost 5% on last year, a pattern repeated in the rest of the country.

The average person in England is now recycling 171kg of waste each year, compared to just 35kg in 1997. This means that household recycling has more than tripled since 1997, from 8% to 34.5%.

This shows that the Government’s action on recycling is working:

o Investment in new waste treatment centres means that Local Authorities have the ability to recycle more;
o The Landfill Tax Escalator gives local authorities the right incentives to improve recycling for households and reduce landfill;
o The agreements we have negotiated with industry make sure that packaging producers play their part in paying for recycling; and
o Central government’s work with local government to improve recycling services for households is making it easier for people to recycle at their convenience.

I am proud that the Government’s work to make recycling easier has made a difference and that people all over the country are doing their bit for the environment.

And as the Environment Secretary himself said, I am determined we can do even better in future.