Dear Sir or Madam,

I read with alarm Joan Ruddock's response to Bob Neill's question
on the amount of material accepted for recycling that does not
actually get recycled (July 21 2008).

I quote:

"With regard to material sent for recycling, but disposed of in a
non-recycled manner, tonnages are not available as local
authorities only have a duty to report recycling rejects up to the
gate of the reprocessor, at which point it is deemed to be sent for
recycling"

Will this information be forthcoming?

This is a vital piece of information that councils should be
obliged to report on. Some facilities may perform extremely well
and whilst others won't do so well. Councils could then assign
contracts based on performance. DEFRA could do more to ensure
councils and their recycling facilities are answerable to council
tax payers and recyclers.

Yours faithfully,

Dear Mr Beynon,

Thank you for your email dated 22 July regarding local authority recycling.

As waste management and waste collection services are considered to be a
local issue by Defra, each individual council would be responsible for any
recycling statistics made available.

Local authorities are in fact required to report on recycling rejects up
until the point it is accepted by the reprocessor. It would not however make
economic sense for a recycling facility to accept material that it would
then immediately have to send on to landfill, as said facility would be
required to pay the Local authority for the recyclate, as well as the
landfill operator. Nor would they get revenue from a recycled product.

Under the Landfill Allowances and Trading Scheme (LATS) waste disposal
authorities (WDAs) are required to report on recycling rejects, however this
data would cover more than one waste collection authority?s area.

Information on WDA LATS performance is available through the LATS Public
Register which can be accessed through this link
[1]http://lats.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Me...
/registerMain

Further information relating to Defra advice to local authorities on waste
and recycling can be viewed on the Defra website at:
[2]http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/wast...
I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,
Customer Contact Unit
Defra

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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References

1. http://lats.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Me...
2. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/wast...