Recycling rate continues to fall across Enfield

Latest figures show the borough is still moving backwards on recycling, reports Richard Cubitt

Enfield’s household recycling rate is continuing to fall, the latest figures show.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recently released its annual report into local authority waste collections, which shows that Enfield’s rate of household recycling in 2024/25 had fallen to 32.9%, down from 33% in 2023/24 and 34.2% in 2022/23.

This is despite Enfield Council’s own climate action plan promising that “Enfield will have a circular economy with increased recycling, composting, and waste used as a resource resulting in overall waste reduction of 30% from our baseline by 2040”.

This plan has seemingly achieved little to improve recycling in recent years, as rates have stagnated – although they do remain slightly above the London average of 32.6%.

At one point Enfield had been the best performing borough within the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) area, but has now been overtaken by Waltham Forest.

The NLWA, which co-ordinates waste disposal across Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, has set a household recycling target of 50%.

But all these boroughs remain a long way from achieving the target. NLWA’s own average recycling rate has fallen from 29.8% in 2023/24 to 28.5% in 2024/25, a much faster drop than across London as a whole.

In Enfield, the highest household recycling rate the borough has achieved was 39.1% in 2013/14.

Approached for a response, the council pointed out that the borough ranked 14th out of 32 London boroughs for recycling and that one of the main reasons for decreasing rates was because of an increase in contamination of recycling, where residents place the wrong items in bins.

Efforts to boost recycling include a number of trials to increase food waste recycling, which improved food waste collection by 30% and halved contamination, according to the council. There is also now set to be a relaunch of recycling in flats, improving recycling collection and introducing food waste collections to all flats.

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

ACT NOW!

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.