MRW Survey

Materials Recycling Week (MRW) has published a new report on the attitudes of local authorities to recycling and waste management.

The State of the Nation 2008 report surveyed 121 recycling officers (or equivalent) from 121 different local authorities to get their views. Although not a comprehensive survey (MRW only spoke to representatives from roughly a quarter of councils in the UK), it does allow for some general conclusions to be drawn.

Most local authorities that do not currently have food waste collections do not intend to introduce them within the next year; only 26 per cent intend to do so. The introduction of anaerobic digestion was also not a popular option, with only 29 per cent of respondents backing such a scheme in their area. When it comes to battery recycling, 57 per cent of authorities state that they have no plans to introduce either kerbside collections or separate banks or bins for collection.

Although the views of most authority recycling officers seem promising (62 per cent think that recycling bins should be placed next to every street waste bin where possible), a low percentage of authorities exhibit any real plans to overhaul their current recycling schemes. For example, revenue neutral incentive schemes proved unpopular; only 21 per cent of authorities backed the idea. However, Paul Sanderson, editor of MRW, commented: "I predict that figure will rise as soon as any are successfully implemented."