Wales has been ranked as the second best recycling nation globally in a new report by environmental consultants Eunomia. While recycling is an important tool in diverting waste from landfill, it’s not the top waste management method for the environment. Waste should be prevented in the first place, followed by reuse, and then recycling. Landfill and incineration should be a last resort.
The Welsh Government has ambitions for all of Wales’ waste to be either recycled or reused by 2050. Its 2021 circular economy strategy ‘Beyond Recycling’ sets targets towards this goal of ‘zero waste’. While certain single-use plastics have been banned in Wales, and more environmentally-friendly single-use options are now commonly offered, utilising more reusable products, and not creating waste in the first place, is the ultimate goal.
To mark this Plastic-Free July, a global movement of people refusing single-use plastics for a month, this article looks at what we are doing with our waste in Wales, and asks if we could be recycling more, and using less?
Where happens to our waste?
The average person in Wales produces 453kg of waste each year, which gets either reused, recycled, composted, landfilled or sent for incineration with energy recovery. A decreasing amount (42% in 2012-13 to 1.6% in 2022-23) is being sent to landfill, and an increasing amount is being incinerated (4.7% in 2012-13 to 31.6% in 2022-23).
The percentage of waste being reused/recycled/composted has remained fairly static since 2016.
How much is being recycled?
The overall recycling rate for Wales was 65.7% in 2022-23, exceeding the current target of 64% set in Beyond Recycling. Despite this, the UK Climate Change Committee highlighted Wales’ stalled recycling rates in recent years, and said policies need to be improved to meet targets.
The household recycling rate increased to 64.3% in 2022-23. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, the non-household recycling rate increased by 1.7% to 76%. As household waste accounts for the majority of all municipal waste collected (88%), changes in household rates have a greater impact on the overall rate than the non-household recycling rate.
A 2022 analysis of all 22 Welsh local authority collected Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), showed the main categories of recycled materials were garden waste (10.2%), rubble and aggregates (9.6%), food waste (9.4%) and paper and card (9.2%).
Varied recycling rates across Welsh local authorities
The current recycling rate target is 64%, until 2025 when it increases to 70%. Recycling rates across local authorities varied in 2022-23 from 58.7% in Torfaen to 71.8% in Swansea, and 17 of the 22 local authorities met the 64% target. The five that did not meet the target were: Torfaen, Isle of Anglesey, Flintshire, Caerphilly and Cardiff.
Five of the 22 local authorities have already met the 70% recycling target: Swansea, Pembrokeshire, Bridgend, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire.
Could we be recycling more?
Typically around 34% of an average person’s waste is being sent for disposal (landfill or incineration), although most could be recycled. The proportion of kerbside residual waste (i.e. black bag waste) which was widely recyclable in 2022 was 36.5%. On average 24.7% of the kerbside residual waste analysed was food waste, while 11.8% consisted of widely recycled dry recycling materials.
While the Welsh Government plans to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which would help capture more recyclable material, this has been further delayed. On 25 April 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, confirmed a cross-UK agreement on a “clear framework for interoperability”, including the deposit level and size of containers in scope, but also confirmed implementation would be delayed until October 2027.
In evidence to the Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure (CCEI) Committee, waste NGO Reloop estimated:
…a two-year delay from October 2025 to October 2027 would result in 647 million PET [plastic] bottles being landfilled, littered or incinerated in Wales. This would also be the fate of 332 million cans and 61 million glass bottles.
The Cabinet Secretary’s statement confirmed the continuing commitment to include glass within the scope of the DRS in Wales, saying it’s a question of “when, not if…”.
The Welsh Government also introduced the new workplace recycling regulations on 6 April 2024, which require all workplaces such as businesses, public sector and charities to separate their recyclable material. The effect of this on Wales’ recycling rate remains to be seen.
Could we be producing less?
Beyond Recycling includes a target for a 33% reduction in waste by 2030.
The Welsh Government plans to reduce packaging waste by introducing an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, to place the disposal costs of packaging on its producer. While there is a current producer responsibility system for packaging in the UK, producers currently only pay for up to 7% of the costs, and not the full disposal costs.
The aim of an EPR scheme is to encourage innovation in packaging design (ideally making it easily recycled or reused), and minimise excessive packaging. While the proposals were first consulted on in 2019, implementation has been further delayed to October 2025 (originally 2023).
Could we be consuming less?
Welsh households threw away 309,000 tonnes of food and drink in 2021/22, costing households £786 million in total, or £250 per person, showing the quantity and scale of household food waste. The research by WRAP Cymru also showed an increase in household food waste since 2015, and that 75% is edible food waste. Overall it shows just 5% reduction in food waste since 2007, which the Cabinet Secretary said “shows the stickiness of this issue”.
Beyond Recycling has targets to reduce avoidable food waste by 50% by 2025, and 60% by 2030 – targets that WRAP says are “likely to be challenging” and need more effort to be met.
Keep Wales Tidy said policies are also needed to address consumption. The Cabinet Secretary told the CCEI Committee he was regularly meeting retailers to highlight their role in helping consumers “buy wisely, use the food properly and minimise the waste that they have”.
Could we be reusing more?
If waste cannot be prevented, reuse is the next best option for the environment. There are fast-growing initiatives, such as Repair Café Wales and Benthyg Cymru, that are delivering action on repair and reuse in our communities, but are driven by the third sector and volunteers. Various research by WRAP has shown how re-use, rental and repair are creating jobs and value in Wales, yet systematic changes are needed to encourage circular behaviours.
But a circular economy won’t be achieved with individual citizen effort alone. Reloop recently told the CCEI Committee that a collective responsibility is needed, and highlighted France where 5% of all EPR fees must be dedicated towards building reuse infrastructure.
Wales’ recycling success has been largely driven by targets set out by the Welsh Government, however there are no targets for reuse and repair, something Keep Wales Tidy says should be addressed.
What’s next?
The Welsh Government plans to introduce ‘phase 2’ of the single use plastic ban, as well as bans on wet wipes containing plastic and disposable vapes.
While there are interventions in the pipeline, the waste sector has made it clear that the ‘low-hanging fruit’ has gone, and further improvements will be difficult to achieve.
Article by Lorna Scurlock, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
