Credit to carton recycling

New figures show carton recycling is increasing and it’s clear how to improve rates further.

In the European Union, the proportion of beverage cartons recycled rose from 36% in 2011 to 39% in 2012 and 42% in 2013.

In the United Kingdom, the number of local authorities offering home collection of cartons has jumped from 31% in 2011 to 57%. But that means 43% still don’t.

In the United States, the proportion of households with access to local recycling initiatives has shot up from 18% in 2009 to 50%, but many programmes do not yet include kerbside collection.

So, rapid progress is being made at last, though there is still far more to do.