HC Deb 18 June 2003 vol 407 cc296-7W
Joan Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of homes in England have(a) one material, (b) two materials, (c) three materials and (d) four materials or more collected from their home for recycling separately from their residual waste; and what percentage of household waste is recycled from homes in each of the above categories. [117818]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 9 June 2003]: The figures relate to 2001–02 which is the most recent year for which we have full statistics.

The percentage of households with kerbside collection of recyclable materials:

  1. (a) one material—12 per cent.
  2. (b) two materials—11 per cent.
  3. (c) three materials—11 per cent.
  4. (d) four materials or more—24 per cent.

This assumes co-mingled collection contains three materials.

The recycling rate for each of the above is:

  1. (a) 6.7 per cent.
  2. (b) 10.1 per cent.
  3. (c) 10.8 per cent.
  4. (d) 11.7 per cent.

These figures do not include any recyclates from civic amenity site collection which generally makes up about one third of the total figure—which is why the headline figure is higher.

The reason for the absence is that kerbside recylate collections are monitored by the Waste Collection Authority and waste from the civic amenity sites are dealt with by the Waste Disposal Authority.