DS Smith finds UK on track to miss recycling targets by 13 years

25 Jul 2023 --- DS Smith forecasts that the UK might miss its long-term recycling target by 13 years, identifying the lack of consistency in recycling infrastructure across England as a central cause. The company is calling for uniform recycling policies to improve lagging rates.

DS Smith shares that with a recycling rate of 44.6%, Britain has already missed the 50% recycling rate target set by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which was due to be achieved by 2020 and is on course to miss the 2025 (55%) and 2030 (65%) targets.

The company elaborates that as e-commerce has boomed, leading to more packaging in UK homes while recycling rates have stagnated. 

“The role of paper and cardboard packaging has changed completely over the last decade as consumers have bought more shopping online,” states Miles Roberts, group chief executive at DS Smith.

“With more packaging now coming into the home, our recycling infrastructure needs huge investment and a consistent policy so every householder can effectively recycle.”

DS Smith’s report, “The Tipping Point – Power of Less,” reveals that despite Wales having the second-best recycling rates in the world, the UK, as a whole, is predicted to fail the EU recycling targets. 

According to DS Smith, several new consumer behaviors are compounding the recycling challenges that the UK is facing.The report provides new data analyzing the size of the potential gap between existing infrastructure and targets. According to the report, several new consumer behaviors are compounding the recycling challenges that the UK is facing. 

“Rapid adoption of e-commerce and therefore exponential growth in deliveries of packages, the rise of ‘on the go’ and convenience consumption and an associated increase in the use of composite and laminated packaging, and skepticism and confusion about the role individual households can play in recycling” is highlighted by DS Smith as the changing consumer behavior.

Four nations, one target
DS Smith highlights that while the UK lags overall, the picture is inconsistent across its four nations. Wales has a better overall recycling rate of 56.7%, meaning it has already achieved the 2025 target.

“The Welsh government has focused on separate collections for paper, metal, glass and plastics, known as ‘source segregation.’ With central funding support for local authorities and a series of policy drivers, Wales has reaped the benefits of a more consistent approach to recycling collections. It also introduced fines for councils of up to £200 (US$257) per metric ton for missing statutory targets to drive better implementation from local authorities.”

Elsewhere in the UK, Scotland has made strides to drive its zero waste and resource efficiency agendas with the launch of a Circular Economy Strategy, while Northern Ireland has made progress in reducing landfill rates.

“If the UK is to successfully transition to a circular economy, we must treat materials such as cardboard as a currency and not waste. Separate collections of cardboard and paper would reduce contamination, driving up recycling rates and providing millions of pounds to the UK economy,” iterates Roberts.

“The amount of recyclable cardboard that is going to landfill or incineration in this country today is unacceptable and counter to the country’s ambitions to be one of the world’s environmental leaders.”

“Tipping point”
The UK faces a potential “tipping point” caused by the constraint on recycling capacity for each household and the rapid growth in e-commerce, finds the report. Wales has a better overall recycling rate of 56.7%, meaning it has already achieved the 2025 target.

“Based on a total household recycling waste of 12.093 million metric tons and 27.2 million households in 2017, if all households had a 240-liter wheelie bin of mixed dry recycling that was collected fortnightly, this report estimates that they are already 85% full,” it states.

DS Smith has identified that UK consumers are faced with 300 or more different recycling systems across England’s local authorities, with no current mandate for how recycling is collected. The challenge for residents is particularly stark in major cities like London, where neighboring streets face differing systems as local councils apply their own rules.

To achieve improved recycling rates and avoid the tipping point, DS Smith recommends: appointing a dedicated recycling minister, adopting statutory recycling targets, prioritizing waste separation, applying universal labeling and pitting circular at the heart of the budget. 

“It is a cause for national concern that we are set to miss our recycling targets, reflecting a failure in the UK’s vision to build a better environmental future. The perfect storm of increasing e-commerce, urbanization, rising populations and the restriction of overseas recyclable markets may mean we fall even further behind,” the report concludes.

“It is paramount that we radically overhaul our recycling infrastructures. We cannot afford to reach a ‘tipping point,’ which could have far-reaching consequences, even extending into our homes.”

Edited by Radhika Sikaria