In the world of recycling, the low hanging fruit has long gone. Between 2000 and 2010 the recycling rate soared - from 11 percent to over 40 percent - but since then it has improved only marginally each year and now actually appears to be going into reverse. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that households are now recycling less waste for the first time in 15 years, with only 44.3 percent being recycled in England in the 12 months to June last year, down from 45 percent in the previous 12 months. This means Britain risks being fined hundreds of millions of pounds by the European Union for failing to meet the target of recycling half of all household waste by 2020.
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