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Waste Not, Want Not

11 May 2009 by Martin Wroe

The recession means we are not just spending less, we are wasting less and recycling more. Rubbish mountains – in England at least – are finally shrinking and we are binning less now than at any time in living memory.

Latest statistics from the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed that the amount of waste sent to landfill or incinerated per person in England has fallen to the lowest level since estimates were first made. Local councils and waste management companies across the whole country are reporting a drop of up to 10 per cent in waste collection in recent months, a fall that the UK environmental charity Waste Watch estimates could result in a massive reduction of 2.5 million tonnes in waste production in 2009.

And while there are clear links between decreased production and consumption due to the current recession and a reduction in waste, the increase in recycling points to a wider social shift.

“Not only are people moving away from conspicuous consumption, but they are also being more responsible with what they do consume, which is why recycling hasn’t fallen. It is a movement away from disposable living,” said Ian Mulheirn, director of the Social Market Foundation.

Read the full story here.

Flickr photosource.

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