DEFRA recycled and composted the following amounts of waste in each of the last three years.
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Total waste 4,283 5,716 5,252 Recycled/composted 948 1,640 1,385 Percentage recycled 22 29 26 Reused/incinerated with energy recovery 1,262 1,047 1,506 Percentage recovered 52 47 55
At this time the Sustainable Development Commission has yet to publish Government data for 2007-08.
DEFRA has increased the number of sites on which it reports from 39 in 2004-05 to 54 in 2006-07. The waste data also include laboratory waste. A large amount of laboratory waste is hazardous and cannot be recycled.
The following table shows Environment Agency estimates for waste recycled from its offices and depots for the last two financial years. Prior to 2006-07 records were not held centrally and are therefore unavailable.
2006-07 2007-08 Total waste 448,227 508,324 Landfilled 170,055 153,461 Recycled 267,956 351,634 Percentage recycled 60 69