Recycling rates in Wales increased to 68.4% in 2024-25 following the introduction of new workplace recycling reforms.
Local authority municipal waste figures show the recycling rate in Wales has risen from 66.6% in 2023-24 to 68.4% in 2024-25. Before devolution, Wales had an estimated 5% recycling rate.
The figures also show only 0.7% of waste was disposed of in landfills in 2024-2025.
The statistics are the first annual data to be published since new workplace recycling measures were introduced that require all businesses, public and third sector workplaces and collectors to keep key recyclable materials separate.
The figures show that, since the measures were introduced, an extra 8,187 tonnes of recyclable material have been collected from workplaces by local authorities – a 42% increase on the previous year. Residual waste collected from workplaces has also dropped by 15.8%.
Over half of Welsh local authorities met the 2024 to 2025 statutory target of 70% of waste being recycled, while more than 90% reported an increase in their recycling rate compared with the previous year.
Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: “We continue to build on Wales’s already world-class recycling. This shows the huge shift in attitudes over the last few decades; recycling is now a part of who we are as a nation.”
“We’ve backed our commitment with over £1bn of investment since devolution, which has seen recycling rates increase exponentially ever since.”
“I’m proud of every person in Wales who has played their part in getting us to where we are today – in our homes and now in our workplaces too. Thank you for joining this collective effort.”
Wales is second in the world for recycling, only behind Austria in the global rankings published by Eunomia Research and Consulting and Reloop in 2024.