Are we lacking ambition?

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union has just advised that the UK recycled 24.8% of its municipal waste during 2010. Allowing for waste which was composted the rate increases to 38.8%.

The rest was either incinerated (12.2%) or landfilled. The amount of municipal waste being landfilled was a shocking 49% of the total - or in other words more than we recycled and composted.

The EU Directive target is a 50% recycling rate by 2020 and whilst the Coalition Government thinks that individual councils should not have to comply with this target, overall the UK still has to reach it. The Environmental Services Association believes it will cost £10bn to £20bn to upgrade the UK's waste infrastructure to achieve this. Yet we could do far more with much less using simple systems, common sense and a bit of ambition.

There are already 75 councils in the UK meeting or beating the 50% target. Many of these are using simple kerbside sort methods to achieve their results. Without an investment in MRFs or expensive and energy hungry processing plants high recycling rates are perfectly possible and the proof is there for everyone to see.

Delivering a kerbside sort model with separate food waste collection, home composting and chargable garden waste collection will result is less residual waste. Put in a bit of educational resource and it gets even better. This will not cost billions, most can be achieved using the existing infrastructure.

The material collected in this way will be of a much higher quality and as a consequence will be worth more money. Keeping everything in the UK instead of shipping to India and China will create jobs and opportunities and will keep increasingly scarce raw materials within our shores.

With the recent Defra consulation on recycling targets, the Campaign for Real Recycling victory over Defra's extrapolation of the EU rules and the forthcoming MRF Code of Practice we have a real opportunity to build a better future with more and higher quality recycling in the UK. Alternatively, we can stick at 50%, burn the rest and burn billions in the process. The right way forward requires clarity of vision and a bit more ambition from our politicians.