What's in you Bin? London

The average household dustbin contains around 50% recyclable materials, yet it is thought that the national average of what actually ends up being recycled is only about 18%. As local authorities introduce more consistent recycling schemes, this figure is set to rise, but there is always more that can be done.

Contents of the average dustbin:

30% = Paper and cardboard

25% = Organic matter (food waste, etc)

19% = Textiles, dust, etc

10% = Glass

8% = Metals

8% = Plastics

As a nation, the UK throws away over 300 million tonnes of waste each year, although not all of this is household watse. At the moment, around 68% of all household waste is destined for landfill sites. 25% is effectively recycled and another 7% is incinerated. Landfill sites are becoming harder and harder to find, resulting in increased costs for local authorities and therefore increased costs for home owners. The increasing costs do however make it much more viable to invest in recycling, so some good may come out of bad.

We are heading in the right direction, but perhaps just not quite as quickly as we need to be. Looking at the figures (Defra) household waste recycling seems to be increasing at a steady rate each year. In 1995, UK households were only recycling a little over 6% of the waste produced each year. In 2006 this figure was up to around 25%. And whilst the total amount of waste produced has increased by about 14% in that time, the speed of increase has actually slowed in recent years.

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