By Brian Mayne
When it comes to recycling – Wales really does have something to celebrate
A regular column looking at everyday environmental issues written by local environmentalist Brian Mayne. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, Chartered Environmentalist, and is recognised by the International Solid Waste Association as an International Waste Manager.
I thought I would start my column this month with a major success story.
It was recently announced that Wales recycled 56.5% of household waste in 2020, far ahead of the other nations in the UK who managed an average of 44.4%. What is even more impressive is that this was achieved during a period of unprecedented challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a testament to the incredible work of the collection crews, support staff working for councils, and not forgetting the residents who made sure that the material that could be recycled was placed in the right container on the right day.
Wales was the only UK nation to keep up its recycling rate during the pandemic. To use a rugby analogy, we have won the equivalent of a recycling ‘triple crown’ for over 10 years consistently outperforming, the other nations.
Here in the Vale, we are presently one of the best performing councils in Wales with the latest data identifying that 71% of our waste was recycled. This already meets the Welsh Governments next statutory minimum target of 70% by 2024-2025 and as a result, saved £5M in avoided disposal charges and stopped 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions entering the atmosphere.
Bridgend wasn’t far behind with 69% recycled, which led to £4M saved by recycling instead of disposal and avoiding 16,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
One of the issues often raised about recycling is that people often are sceptical about where their recycling goes. According to the Welsh Government, the majority of Wales’ recycling, more than half a million tonnes, stayed within Wales. You can find out where the material goes from your council by checking out the website ‘My Recycling Wales’ which allows you to browse Welsh local authorities and see what happens to your waste across the UK, and even around the world.
As for the future, there are plans for Wales to continue outperforming other countries not only in the UK but worldwide and become the world’s number one recycling nation, the world recycling champions. We are presently ranked the third-best country behind Germany and Taiwan. Achieving this status will help us become a zero-waste, net-zero emissions nation by 2050, making savings of up to £2 billion for the Welsh economy – something all of us will need to play our part in achieving.
- The views expressed by columnists of this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Glamorgan Star, its employees or its proprietors.
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