Councils plan to increase re-cycling rates to 45 per cent by 2010/11, but this will not be enough to meet central Government’s environmental policies and national objectives. This finding comes from a State of the Nation 2008 survey by Materials Recycling Week.

The survey found that recycling services offered are a postcode lottery, but two-thirds of councils agree that every household in the UK should be able to recycle cans, tins, paper, cardboard, glass, plastic bottles and organic waste through their council’s kerbside collection services.

For the future householders can expect more recyclable materials to be collected from the kerbside. Eight of 10 of the councils said that they already collect plastic bottles and just under half of those said they also plan to expand the range of plastics they collect. Some 30 percent of councils plan to implement banks and bins for waste batteries and a further 14 per cent plan to introduce kerbside collections of them. Six out of 10 councils also hold the view that recycling bins should be placed next to every street waste bin where possible.

One area of policy which councils appear reluctant to develop is the use of ‘Pay as You Throw’ incentive schemes to increase recycling rates by penalising householders who do not recycle and rewarding those who recycle more. Only 21 per cent said they would like to introduce incentive schemes.