It is surprising that the news of falling recycling levels in London have not had a greater impact. Unfortunately, Brent has had the biggest fall in all London (5.6%).
It is tempting to have a knee jerk response and blame obvious candidates like the decision to introduce charging for green waste, but this should be resisted. Brent and other Boroughs need to take a long hard look at what works and what can be done to at least restore previous levels of recycling. It is possible that the lower recycling may be partly down to welcome factors, such as the reduction in packaging (which is often recyclable). Easy comparisons between Boroughs should also be avoided as encouraging recycling can be far harder with certain kinds of housing stock.
I notice that the Standard article also comments on the incineration of waste. This is cheaper, and surprisingly more environmentally beneficial, than sending waste to landfill, but perhaps the shift towards burning is causing authorities to pay less attention to recycling? West London, including Brent, will soon see almost all its waste being either recycled or burnt under a new contract that starts next year.
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