The official waste from England’s households recycling rate was 43.8% in 2024, down 0.2 percentage points from 44.0% in 2023, says the latest report from DEFRA.
In 2024, total waste from households increased to 21.9 million tonnes from 2023 when it was 21.7 million tonnes. This is equivalent to 376 kg per person, down 1 kg from 2023.
The tonnage of separately collected food waste sent for recycling was 535 thousand tonnes, an increase of 6.7% from 501 thousand tonnes in 2023.
The amount of residual waste treated was 12.3 million tonnes, up from 12.1 million tonnes in 2023.
The total amount of waste recycled increased. In 2024, it was 9.6 million tonnes, up from 9.5 million tonnes in 2023. This was an increase of 0.6%.
The rolling 12-month waste from households recycling rate was 43.7% at the end of March 2025. This is a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared with the previous 12-month period. This figure includes IBA metal.
David Gudgeon, Head of External Affairs at Reconomy Connect, said, “The data shows that volumes of waste, in particular food waste, is increasing, while recycling rates have remained stuck at around 43-44% over the past few years. There is a long way to go to deliver a national recycling rate of 65% by 2035. One of the key issues behind these stagnant rates has been the lack of consistency in recycling collections between local authorities, which has caused confusion for households and contributed to higher contamination levels and reduced recycling quality.
“These underwhelming rates reinforce the importance of Simpler Recycling legislation for Households in England which came into effect today to standardise recycling collections and make recycling easier to understand and follow.
“A critical factor in getting all households in England to separate food waste for recycling will be to deliver local and national engagement campaigns. If we look at performance in Wales where engagement and behaviour change campaigns have been delivered, you will find local authorities achieving recycling rates as high as 75% which is way beyond the targets set for England.
“Simpler Recycling legislation is being introduced alongside a raft of other reforms including Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility, a UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme, and an Emissions Trading Scheme for EfW due in 2028 which will focus the minds of all businesses and local authorities as we strive to limit the fossil carbon composition of residual waste.
“Taken together, these measures, if implemented effectively, could materially lift increase recycling rates and drive a major shift towards a more circular economy.”
