There has been coverage in I News, the Times, the Telegraph, the Mail Online and the Independent on recycling collections and ‘wishcycling’, which is when people put things in the recycling bin either hoping or mistakenly believing they can be reused.
We want to make recycling easier and more consistent so that all councils across England collect the same materials.
This will make it easier for everyone to know what materials can be collected for recycling, which in turn will reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
That does not mean ‘recycling less’ or putting fewer items into recycling bins – but rather helping people to know what should and should not be recycled. Everyone is already encouraged to read the packaging so that they recycle the right materials and boost our growing recycling industry.
We will announce further details on the consultation response soon.
A Defra spokesperson said:
We want to make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will help increase recycled material in the products we buy and boost a growing UK recycling industry.
Local authorities are already required to separately collect types of recycling, but many can and do mix their waste collections - so paper, glass and other material are in the same bin and separated later.
New rules under the Environment Act mean that councils will be required to separately collect garden waste and food, but the mixing of dry recycling will still be possible.