UK canned

The UK has come in for a great deal of criticism from environmental bodies following the release of figures that show the country is lagging behind much of the rest of Europe in terms of can recycling.

Last week we reported​ that APEAL (Association of European steel packaging producers) believed that recycling on the continent was becoming part of everyday life. But for environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth (FoE), things are not improving fast enough.

Speak to FoodProductionDaily.com, Friends of the Earth waste and resources campaigner Claire Wilton said that one reason for the UK's abysmal showing was that local authorities were simply not putting into place systems to collect household waste. "They are simply not collecting the stuff,"​ she said.

The pressure group points out that the UK is the third worst recycler of drinks cans in Europe. According to APEAL figures, just 42 per cent of steel packaging was recycled in 2002, well below the Europe average of 60 per cent. Belgium (93 per cent), Germany (79 per cent), and the Netherlands (78 per cent) topped the table.

"We use far more than our fair share of the earth's precious resources,"​ said Wilton.

"Every ton of steel we recycle avoids the need to extract 1.5 tonnes of iron ore and just under a tonne of coal. But recycling household rubbish is still more expensive than burning it or burying it. The government has to bring this perverse situation to an end by introducing higher taxes on landfill and incineration."​

The figures certainly do not show the UK in a good light. The country only marginally outperformed Portugal and Finland, and is still nearly 10 per cent away from the recycling target for all metals by 2008 as outlined in new European legislation.

"Some countries don't rely on landfill,"​ said Wilton. "But because of our (UK's) industrial past, we have these holes in the ground. We haven't had as big an incentive to recycle as other countries."​

Wilton is slightly dismissive that cultural factors have a major part to play. "I have heard some people say that Germany has a good recycling culture, while others say that the country hasn't always been like this,"​ she said. FoE would like to see a solid recycling infrastructure put in place, along with a programme to educate the public properly about the benefits of recycling.

In response, the charity is launching Shout About Waste​ week in the UK, an FoE initiative aimed at promoting recycling and greater awareness about waste to secondary schools across the country. The environmental campaign group is also calling for the government to adopt a tougher stance on waste disposal and recycling by providing local authorities with an extra £100 million to provide a high quality doorstep recycling service for all households.

According to Friends of the Earth​, the UK recycles less steel than Australia (43 per cent), Korea (47 per cent), the US (59 per cent), South Africa (63 per cent) and Japan (86 per cent). This is despite the fact the country is required by EU law to recycle half of all metals by 2008.

The UK's aluminium recycling rate is currently less than 25 per cent. Research by Friends of the Earth shows that an 80 per cent reduction in our use of non-renewable resources - such as aluminium, steel and cement - is needed by 2050 to achieve a environmentally sustainable future.