So the UK has not met the targets on waste recycling:

Nearly a quarter of all waste was recycled in England last year, mainly
due to the rising amounts of green waste councils collect for
composting.

However, despite doubling the figure in four years,
the Government still failed its stated target of recycling or
composting 25 per cent of all waste by the year 2005, set out in its
Waste Strategy of 2000.

Unaudited figures released
yesterday by the Government showed that nearly 23 per cent of all waste
went for recycling during the year 2004/5.

Friends
of the Earth said the Government had failed to achieve one of its most
significant environmental targets but had got out of it by "sleight of
hand".

There’s only one tiny problem with this approach. There should not actually be targets for waste recycling. What we actually want to do is recycle those things where it makes economic sense to do so and throw away or burn those things where that makes economic sense.

We might need to play around with the tax system, might need to bring prices paid into line with the full and total costs (ie, make sure that all externalities are being paid for) but once we’ve done that volume targets are silly. Assuming, with things like the landfill tax and so on, that we have actually got everyone paying the full costs of their activities, if it still costs extra resources to recycle (whether that is in cash terms or the extra labour required to sort or whatever) then doing so is actually making us poorer….we are using more resources than we have to. If prices paid do not reflect the full costs then we need to tinker with that price system via taxation, rather than set volume targets.

But the idea that 25% (or 15% or 50%) of waste being recycled is in some way a good thing is simply silly.