Progress report on recycling and recovery targets for England 2020
Although progress has been made on recycling, England has not met the target to recycle 50% of ‘waste from households’ by 2020. In 2020, the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was 44.0%, down from 45.5% in 2019.
This decrease reflects the impact the COVID-19 pandemic. Total ‘waste from households’ increased to 22.6 million tonnes in 2020 from 22.1 million tonnes in 2019, as people spent more time at home due to lockdowns.
Alongside this, the total amount of recycled ‘waste from households’ decreased by 1.2% due to service disruptions, for instance the closure of Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
