To mark Recycling Week 2019 (23-29 September), Crawley-based waste management company JunkClear has put together some startling recycling facts. The statistics show the extent of the problem we all face when it comes to dealing with waste.

Organised by WRAP, national Recycling Week is designed to offer an opportunity to change people’s recycling behaviours and attitudes to rubbish, a sentiment JunkClear is keen to support.

Jerry Ansell, Director at JunkClear, comments:

“Having worked in the waste management industry for over ten years, we see the impact of rubbish on our local environment when people fail to deal with it properly. The number of call outs we receive to help remove fly-tipped rubbish has gone up by 25% over the last few years.

“Looking at the recycling fact sheet we’ve pulled together, the figures make for shocking reading. However, there is good news. The message about dealing with waste in a responsible way is starting to hit home and more people than ever before are taking a proactive approach. The national target is to recycle 50% of kerbside waste.”

As a fully-certified waste clearance company, JunkClear has an environmentally friendly approach to waste removal and is keen to help local businesses and residents improve their recycling rates.

JunkClear’s Top Waste and Recycling Facts:

Shocking rubbish-related facts:

• Here in the UK, we produce 31 million tonnes of waste per year, that’s 468 kilograms per person (Eurostat). That’s approximately the weight of an adult polar bear!
• More than half (54%) of people in the UK throw away at least one item that could have been recycled (WRAP)
• Guess how many disposable coffee cups are used every year? 16 billion! (Green Match)
• The UK is in 11th place on the recycling table in comparison to other European countries like Germany (Gov)
• Over a year the average family throws away around £700 of food shopping (Recycle Now)

Alarming plastic waste facts:

• It is estimated there are over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans, and every year one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste (Defra)
• According to Greenpeace, UK supermarkets produce 800,000 tonnes of plastic every year
• By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (Ocean Conservancy)
• 90.5% of plastic has never been recycled (Royal Statistics Society)
• Each year, 47 million plastic straws end up in the sea from the UK (Government)

Positive recycling news:

• Almost 200 zero-waste shops can now be found in the UK (The Guardian)
• Across the country, 43% of our waste is now recycled according to the government
• In the EU, 116 million tonnes of waste was sent for recycling in 2017
• Plastic straws will be banned in England from April 2020
• All newspapers in the UK are now made from 100% recycled paper (Recycle Now)
• All garden and kitchen waste is recycled close to home (Recycle Now)
• 80% of all glass collected is used again to make new glass bottles and jars (Recycle Now)
• In 2018, 845,000 tonnes of food and drinks containers were recycled back into bottles
• Aluminium is one of the most recycled materials and can be continually melted and made into something else, which makes it a recycling material star
• Your old metal food /drink can might become a bicycle, car, paperclip, ship, train track or another can!

Notes to editors

JunkClear is a family-run business based in Crawley. In operation for over ten years, the company offers a full range of waste management services for all types of commercial and household waste including general waste, electrical WEEE, cardboard and paper, green waste, household items and office furniture.

JunkClear is committed to an environmentally friendly approach, recycling as much rubbish as possible to ensure the waste it collects won't pollute the planet. 

Fully licensed and insured, JunkClear is accredited by the Government's ConstructionLine scheme and the industry body CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme).

Website: https://www.junkclear.co.uk/