£1.1 billion investment for recycling

The government has announced a £1.1 billion boost for improving critical recycling infrastructure and collections over the next year for councils in England.

Local councils currently fund recycling using taxpayer money, but through the new Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging scheme, businesses who produce packaging will pay for their share of recycling costs.

Businesses will be charged recycling fees, with higher costs for harder to recycle materials and less costs where packaging can be reused or refiled, in a bid to encourage businesses to use less packaging. 

The extra funding could be used to offer residents more streamline recycling collections, or towards building new infrastructure or covering the costs of upgrading facilities where councils send household waste.

Alongside the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packing scheme, the government is also introducing a Deposit Return Scheme in 2027, which will provide a financial incentive to return empty drinks containers to a collection point, such as their local supermarket.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “This government is cleaning up Britain and ending the throwaway society.

“Under the Plan for Change, we are pumping more than £1 billion into local recycling services.

“This will revolutionise how we deal with our waste and ensure more of today’s rubbish is recycled into tomorrow’s packaging.”