Councils under fire over recycling

Councils came under fire today for dismal records on recycling.

The boroughs failed to hit even the Government's minimum target to recycle 10 per cent of all rubbish, official figures reveal.

Just nine per cent of Londoners' household rubbish was recycled last year - compared with 14.5 per cent for Britain - making the capital officially one of the most wasteful cities in Europe as more than 90 per cent of its rubbish is dumped in landfill sites or incinerated.

Today, the worst boroughs were being named and shamed by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with poorer boroughs such as Tower Hamlets thought to be top of the list. They were also to be warned by Environment Minister Elliot Morley that they face Government intervention if they do not show improvement. He said: "Many councils are working hard to improve recycling, providing kerbside boxes and expanding the range of materials collected, for example, but a significant minority are still not doing enough."

Across Britain, the level of recycling has risen from 12.5 per cent in 2001/02 to 14.5 per cent in 2002/03. Each household produced 521kg of waste in the year, up 0.8 per cent. The amount of household rubbish being recycled has doubled in the past six years.

However, Britain still has one of the worst records in Europe - with only Greece, Ireland and Portugal recycling less.

Although it is harder to hit high recycling targets in cities because of the difficulty of collecting from tower blocks and estates, several European cities already recycle at least half their waste.

They include: Bonn, Germany, at 54 per cent; Munster, also in Germany, with 53 per cent; and Linz in Austria with 51 per cent. The EU average is 32 per cent.

Even US cities outperform London - Seattle's rate is 44 per cent.

Britain has been reliant on landfill sites because of the cheap availability of old quarries and mines. But they are rapidly becoming full and the major alternative - incineration - is deeply unpopular.

Environmentalists warn that the country is facing a waste crisis.

Georgina Bloomfield of Friends of the Earth said: "We have been desperately slow in putting the measures in place to allow people to recycle.

"Even now, lots of councils do not have doorstep collection schemes but it is also up to us as consumers to avoid products that are over packaged and disposable products that quickly turn into waste."

All EU countries must recycle at least 25 per cent of their waste by 2006 or face huge fines; 30 per cent by 2015. The best council in Britain is Daventry at 44 per cent.

Mr Morley urged Londoners to think harder about recycling. He said: "Every old newspaper or empty tin can make a difference."