Key information
Request reference number: MGLA080223-9559
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
- What is the recycling rate (as a percentage of the total weight of waste) for all waste produced in the council area for the financial year 2021-22, and from the start of financial year 2022 to 31 December 2022?
- If the figures for 2022/23 are not yet available, please provide an estimated amount, or the amount recycled thus far.
- How often in a single four-week period does the council collect recycling bins for the following from domestic households:
- Paper/Carboard
- Glass
- Plastic
- Cans
Our response
The GLA does not currently hold this information. However, local authority collected waste and recycling rate data is reported periodically by local authorities through the WasteDataFlow system, consolidated and then published annually by Defra. There is usually a time lag of around a year in the publication of waste data by DEFRA, and the 2021/22 data is expected to be published in late February or March 2023 (Local authority collected waste management for England for 2021/22 - Accredited official statistics announcement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). There is therefore no data on recycling rates from the start of financial year 2022 to 31 December 2022.
For information, in 2020/21, London’s household waste recycling rate was 33%. The combined household waste and municipal-like Commercial & Industrial (C&I) solid waste recycling rate in 2020 is estimated to be 42%, using a mix of Defra published data and internal GLA modelling. Unfortunately a recycling rate for Construction & Demolition waste (C&D) is not available due to limitations in available data, however it is estimated that the amount of solid waste generated in London in 2020, including household waste and estimated contributions from municipal-like C&I waste and C&D waste was 18,094,305t.