Per capita LA collected waste from households in England 2010-2021

Waste from households collected by local authorities in England amounted to 409 kilograms per person in 2021. This was the second consecutive year that waste collections increased and the highest figure recorded since 2016. The region with the largest residual waste collected per household is the North East England.

Recycling rates slowing down

The recycling rate of household waste in England was 44.1 percent in 2021, down from a high of 45.5 percent two years earlier. In the past two years, recycling rates decreased as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which caused disruptions to the waste management sector throughout the year. In turn, England did not meet its target of recycling 50 percent of household by 2020. While COVID-19 had a clear impact on recycling, rates had been oscillating since the middle of the decade.

Food waste

Food waste generation is a growing concern worldwide, with an estimated one billion metric tons going to waste each year. Households alone generated an estimated 569 million metric tons of food waste in 2019. The UK produces more than five million metric tons of household food waste every year.