Recycling rates in England have dropped from 44.8 percent to 43.9 percent, marking the country’s first-ever decline. With this decrease, the UK will likely miss its EU target of recycling at least 50 percent of household waste by 2020.
To help the country get its numbers back on track, waste company Suez is calling for a tax on packaging manufacturers.
The Guardian has the details:
Recycling rates in England have fallen for the first time ever, prompting calls for a tax on packaging and meaning EU targets are now almost certain to be missed.
The amount of rubbish sent to recycling plants by householders had been steadily increasing for more than a decade, but more recently flatlined for three years. Now new government figures published on Thursday show that the recycling rate in England has dropped from 44.8% in 2014 to 43.9% in 2015.