Salvage mission Britain's big recycling problem

Despite much grand talk of sustainable living, the UK has a glaring refuse problem. Who- or what is to blame?

- Miranda Bryant

On the face of it, Brighton comes across as an environmentally friendly place. As well as having a Green-led council and Britain's only Green MP, signs of waste consciousness are everywhere.

A coffee stand at the station promotes its "compostable" takeaway cups, and the steep streets nearby are dotted with big communal recycling bins. A repurposed milk float called Bianca glides from house to house, processing carefully sorted recycling boxes on behalf of the cooperative Magpie Recycling.

Under the bunting of Brighton Open Market, Green Centre volunteers hover over residents sorting their trickier-to-recycle waste: rubber gloves, sweet wrappers, coffee packaging and corks. "We are addicted to recycling," said Melanie Rees, who runs the Green Centre. "I started this 17 years ago and it hasn't shifted. The fascination, the addiction to recycling."

Yet, in 2020, the unitary authority of Brighton & Hove sent just 29% of its household waste for reuse, recycling or composting (though it says this has risen since to 30.5%). This puts it in the bottom 40 of councils in England.

Brighton is a prime example of a wider problem: the UK is rubbish at recycling - and getting worse. According to figures, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), released in May, the amount of household waste recycled in England fell 1.5% in 2020 to 44%.

Poor recycling performance seems to be something of a national trait. Northern Ireland's domestic recycling dipped from 51% to 49% while Scotland fell from 45% to 41%. Wales bucks the trend. Its recycling rate rose to 56.5% (its municipal rate is 65%). In 2017, it was ranked third in the world (after Germany and Taiwan) by independent consultancy Eunomia.