If recycling was a competitive sport, it appears that we would be on the podium! It is not uncommon for us to hear stories in the news about extraordinary recycling rates in countries such as Sweden, who report a 99% recycling rate. However, this huge rate is only true, if incinerating residual waste to recover energy counts towards recycling. Which in Sweden it must do, however in Wales; we do not report this as recycling, even though it is how residual waste is processed in Cardiff.
So the issue exists that it is very difficult to take recycling rates at face value, when different countries have significant variations in what they count towards recycling. However a report has recently been released by Eunomia Research and Consulting which tackles these discrepancies in an effort to produce a global recycling league table that reflect common reporting methods.
And the news for us is good…
*MSW stands for Municipal Solid Waste.
Germany has lived up to its reputation to hold onto the top spot, Taiwan comes in second and as a largely manufacturing economy, much emphasis is put on producer responsibility. Therefore recycling is very much in the culture. Wales comes in third and essentially, like with all of these nations, that would not be possible without the effort made by the general public, so people of Cardiff, you should feel very proud indeed!
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| Published: | 13/06/2017 |
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