Scottish household recycling rate stagnates, figures show

Recycling rates in Scotland have stagnated in the past year, figures have revealed.

Statistics released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Tuesday show recycling rates sat at 43.3% of all waste generated in 2022, rising by just 0.3 percentage points since the previous year.

While rates have increased by almost four percentage points since 2011, they have fallen since the peak of 45.6% in 2017.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Reducing waste is key to our climate ambitions and it is good to see Scottish households generating the lowest levels on record.

“With the amount of waste going to landfill down by nearly half over the last 10 years, we are making good progress.

“We are determined to keep driving recycling rates up too, having already supported 19 councils to reduce waste and increase recycling rates through our £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund and we expect to see those projects deliver significant results locally in coming years.

“To improve and modernise local services, we are also delivering a Circular Economy Bill and working with local authorities and households to design new standards for household recycling services in Scotland.”

But Kim Pratt, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “The continued failure of the Scottish Government to improve recycling rates shows that real action is needed to tackle our waste problem.

“The Circular Economy Bill is an opportunity to change the way we use materials in Scotland, but at the moment it’s not strong enough to make a significant impact.

“It needs to include targets to reduce our consumption.

“The Scottish Government must be bold and decisive to create the change needed to meet the threat of climate breakdown.

“Recycling is incredibly important for the planet, but moving to a circular economy means more than that.

“Strong consumption targets would mean policies to encourage producers to make products last for longer, ensure they are easy to repair, choose lower carbon materials, and to shift consumption patterns away from carbon intensive goods and services.”

Elsewhere in the figures, the total amount of waste generated was 2,334,659 tonnes, the lowest figure since at least 2011, and a drop of 6% since the previous year.