New figures have shown the amount of recycling that was incorrectly disposed of in 2022. Thousands of tonnes of waste out of the Southampton households have been recycled improperly which is a record for the city.

New data from the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has shown that a huge 5,167 tonnes of rubbish were rejected at the time of recycling which is a huge increase from 4,859 tonnes from the year before.

Last year the rejected waste accounted for 17.3% of nearly 30,000 tonnes of rubbish that was sent to the facility. The Local Government Association stated that residents have made a “real shift” to make sure that as much waste is recycled as possible, however, councils state that they had to provide extra information on what items can be recycled.

A spokesperson said: “The manufacturers of plastic packaging products are still continuing to create and sell packaging that cannot be recycled and will be put in the recycling bin by people in good faith.”

Councils will need to spend the money on disposing of these materials when they are placed in bins by residents. Across the rest of England, a massive 6.4% of rubbish sent to recycling during 2021 – 2022 was rejected.  Waste can be rejected due to contamination due to water, dirt, or chemical treatments.

A Defra spokesperson said: “There was an increase in rejected material reported by local authorities in the wake of the pandemic, but we have since set a suite of targets to reduce different types of waste, including plastic, glass, metal, paper, and food by 2028 through our landmark Environmental Improvement Plan.”

This plan encourages banning the supply of single-use plastics, making businesses pay for packaging and a deposit return scheme for plastic and metal containers.

At Reliable Skip Hire Southampton we recycle up to 90% of all waste that we collect. You can hire your skip now and have it delivered as quickly as the following day. We supply all of our RoRo containers and skips at the most affordable prices. Contact our customer service team or check out our online articles for any further information.