HR file: Green credentials

Since the 1970s we have been told the benefits of recycling our household waste. With the amount of time spent separating metals and plastics, it may come as a shock to find that not all of our recycling waste is going on to become something new, with much of it heading overseas to be processed or dumped in a landfill.

The National Audit Office recently revealed that more than half of waste that is labelled as recycling is being sent abroad. This means once it leaves the UK we have little control as to what happens to it. While there seems to be a false, successful illusion circling the recycling scheme, the National Audit Office reports that it is ‘not as successful as we all first thought’, stating that the Environment Agency has only carried out 40% of the checks it had planned to do, and that businesses may be exaggerating the amount they are recycling to avoid penalties.