The percentage of household waste being recycled in Glasgow remains far below the national average, new figures show.
Statistics released by environmental watchdog SEPA show that during 2022, households in the area generated just under 244,500 tonnes of waste, of which 27.6% was recycled.
While this is an increase of 0.3% from the 27.3% achieved in 2021, the Scottish average was 43.3% last year.
Glasgow also ranked third-lowest out of the country's 32 local authorities for percentage of household waste recycled in 2022.
Moray (57.8%) took the top spot, followed by the Scottish Borders (57.3%), East Renfrewshire (56%) and North Ayrshire (55.3%).
The SEPA figures show that the amount sent to landfill from Glasgow has dropped, from 37.6% of the total waste generated in 2021 to 25% last year.
READ NEXT: 'Convenient' car parking facility opens at Glasgow Airport
The amount of waste being generated per person in the local area fell, with each resident generating an average of 0.39 tonnes of waste last year – below the Scottish figure of 0.43.
A total of 0.11 tonnes were recycled per person, which is also below the Scottish average of 0.19 tonnes.
In general terms, the SEPA figures show recycling rates sat at 43.3% of all waste generated in Scotland in 2022, rising by just 0.3% since the previous year.
While rates have increased by almost 4% since 2011, they have fallen since the peak of 45.6% in 2017.
Kim Pratt, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "The continued failure of the Scottish Government to improve recycling rates shows that real action is needed to tackle our waste problem.
"The Circular Economy Bill is an opportunity to change the way we use materials in Scotland, but at the moment it's not strong enough to make a significant impact.
"It needs to include targets to reduce our consumption.
READ NEXT: Iconic pub The Laurieston goes on the market
"The Scottish Government must be bold and decisive to create the change needed to meet the threat of climate breakdown.
"Recycling is incredibly important for the planet, but moving to a circular economy means more than that.
"Strong consumption targets would mean policies to encourage producers to make products last for longer, ensure they are easy to repair, choose lower carbon materials, and to shift consumption patterns away from carbon intensive goods and services."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Reducing waste is key to our climate ambitions and it is good to see Scottish households generating the lowest levels on record.
"With the amount of waste going to landfill down by nearly half over the last 10 years, we are making good progress.
"We are determined to keep driving recycling rates up too, having already supported 19 councils to reduce waste and increase recycling rates through our £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund and we expect to see those projects deliver significant results locally in coming years.
"To improve and modernise local services, we are also delivering a Circular Economy Bill and working with local authorities and households to design new standards for household recycling services in Scotland."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel