Recycling Rejection Rates – Which Regions are the Worst?

After you chuck an empty plastic bottle or flattened cardboard box in your recycling bin at home or a dry mixed recycling bin at work you might think that’s it. The piece of rubbish is surely on its way to be recycled and turned into something new? Sadly, not all waste is accepted for recycling.

Ahead of World Environment Day on Thursday 5th June, we decided to analyse data to uncover the regions where the most and least recycling is actually recycled. Data from DEFRA and DAERA was used to calculate the recycling rejection rates for local authorities across England and Northern Ireland.

Discover which regions have the highest and lowest recycling rejection rates in England and Northern Ireland.

Barrow-in-Furness was the local authority area with the highest amount of recycling rejected at 43.91%. Despite residents sending 4,181 tonnes of material for recycling, 1,836 tonnes were rejected. This means only 2,345 tonnes actually went on to be recycled.

Recycling rejection is most likely due to contamination, when the wrong items are placed into dry mixed recycling bins, or items haven’t been cleaned properly, for example. Unfortunately, this means much of this waste will have gone on to be incinerated or sent to landfill rather than recycled.

In second place is Exeter, with the city council’s recycling rejection rates sitting at 38.82%. Residents in the local authority sent 8,822 tonnes of waste for recycling but 3,425 tonnes of this was rejected.

In third place is Liverpool, where the rejection rate for recycling is 29.51%. In Liverpool, residents sent 32,914 tonnes of waste to be recycled, but 9,713 tonnes were rejected.

Tendring District Council is home to the lowest recycling rejection rates in the UK at just 0.01%. The data shows that the area sent 19,551 tonnes of waste for recycling and only 1 tonne of this was rejected. It’s likely the area sees such low rates due to high education for residents on what can and can’t be recycled. The local authority reported a rise in their recycling rates in 2023, which they credited to a new waste system.

In second place is Somerset in the South West of England, where recycling rejection rates sit at just 0.02%. Residents in the area sent 140,865 tonnes of waste for recycling and only 30 tonnes were rejected.

East Devon District Council follows in third place with rejection rates of 0.03%. The local authority saw 27,628 tonnes of recycling sent from households, with only 9 tonnes rejected.

The above table shows that the North East has the highest average rejection rate for recycling while the South West rejects less recycling on average than any other area.

Graham Matthews, dry mixed recycling expert at BusinessWaste.co.uk, comments: “There is a huge diversity in recycling rejection rates across England and Northern Ireland with some local authorities seeing rates close to 45%, whereas others only have one tonne of waste rejected. 

“There is a certain onus on households to ensure they are recycling correctly to reduce contamination. However, we’d encourage local councils to dedicate resources to educating the public on how best they can avoid recycling rejection with guidance on what can and can’t be recycled, alongside tips for cleaning materials. Local councils could also consider imposing fines more frequently for those who regularly disregard recycling rules as a deterrent.”