London's dirty secret: Why are we so rubbish at recycling?

DO you know where your rubbish goes when you put it in the bin? Most of us put what we can in the recycling, then try not to think about it.

But after it leaves your hands, London's waste has a life of its own. Some goes on a night train to Bristol, to be burned in incinerators, while more than a million tonnes a year is sent abroad, as far away as China.

While our city often pats itself on the back for green policies such as Ulez and clean air initiatives, we're the worst area in the country for recycling. Recent Government figures show that in 202223, only 32.7 per cent of household waste in the capital went to recycling centres - the lowest of any region in England, and far below the national average of 43 per cent. It's also well below a mayoral target of 45 per cent by 2025, which the city looks almost certain to miss.

In addition, five of the top 10 worst areas in England for recycling are in London. Tower Hamlets (17.7 per cent) is the worst, followed by Wandsworth (22.4 per cent), Lewisham (23 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (23.1 per cent), then the joint Western Riverside body (24.3 per cent), covering areas including Hammersmith and Fulham, and Lambeth.

Everyone knows how important rubbish collection is. After just two weeks of strikes last September, there were huge piles of waste on the streets of Tower Hamlets, and independent contractors had to be called out to prevent the risk of fire-while those with longer memories will remember Trafalgar Square filled with black rubbish bags in the Seventies. But few of us know where our rubbish actually goes after it gets collected.

While you might assume the lorries go to landfill, in fact, barely any London rubbish goes to the dump. Instead, 65.2 per cent of it - the highest rate in the country is incinerated. The pollution that comes from burning rubbish is just one issue the capital isn't solving.

"The problem with London is that in a massive metropolis you have a gigantic waste challenge," says Oliver Franklin-Wallis, author of the book Wasteland.