Recycling – who really leads the world?

This report reveals that the world’s leading recycling nations may be overstating the level of real recycling they are achieving.

The study looks in more detail at what is included in current reported recycling rates, and uses new research to create a revised recycling rate league table. After adjusting for differences in how different countries measure recycling rates, for example whether construction or commercial waste is included or excluded, or how ash from incineration is accounted for, a more comparable set of recycling rates can be derived. Using these adjusted rates, the top three countries are: Germany (56%), Austria (54%) and South Korea (54%) with Wales dropping into fourth place (52%).