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In its recently published report - More Jobs, Less Waste - Friends of the Earth claim that more than 50,000 new recycling jobs would be created across the UK if the country set more ambitious recycling targets.
The green campaigning charity's report shows that at least 51,400 new jobs would be created across the UK if 70% of the waste collected by local councils were to be recycled.
The report claims that if ambitious but achievable recycling targets of 70% for municipal waste were set and achieved by 2025, then conservative estimates suggest that across the UK this could create 29,400 new direct jobs in recycling, 14,700 indirect jobs in supply chains and 7,300 induced jobs in the wider economy relative to 2006. Of these potential 51,400 total new jobs some 42,300 might be in England with an estimated 4,700 in Scotland, 2,600 in Wales and 1,800 in Northern Ireland.
At least a further 18,800 jobs could be created if commercial and industrial waste was recycled at the same rate.
However, the report goes on to say that if only 50% of council-collected waste were to be recycled - the minimum required by 2020 under EU law - the country would miss out on nearly twenty-five thousand jobs.
Wales and Scotland have both recently announced plans to recycle 70% of council-collected waste by 2025, yet Northern Ireland and England - where the vast majority of waste is generated - are still aiming to recycle only 50%.
The UK Coalition Government has recently started a review of waste policy in England, and as part of this Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to set ambitious recycling targets.
Friends of the Earth's waste campaigner Julian Kirby said:
"Recycling is a win-win for the environment and the economy - saving precious resources and creating many more jobs than expensive and outdated incinerators."
"The Government must be ambitious in setting recycling rates - better product design, as well as action to stop supermarkets and producers selling products that can't be recycled, means that we could easily achieve upwards of 75% recycling rates by 2025."
"If the Coalition is serious about creating a green, jobs-rich economy then it must unlock the wealth in our waste and help consumers to recycle as much as possible." Kirby concluded.
The report also suggests that across the 27 EU member states, up to 322,000 direct jobs could be created, recycling an additional 115 million tonnes of glass, paper, plastic, ferrous and non ferrous metals, wood, textiles and biowaste.
These jobs would have knock on effects in down- and up-stream sectors and the wider economy. Even once jobs displaced from traditional waste management and virgin materials are taken into account the total potential is for more than half a million net new jobs.
While the authors of the report say that these figures should be regarded as estimates not as targets, they add that they are based on conservative assumptions.
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