As the cost of dealing with household waste rises local councils have been criticised for not doing enough to cut waste. Few councils spend money on waste prevention programmes, with only one in four councils encouraging people to reduce junk mail.

Figures obtained from the Audit Commission by the Guardian show that councils in England and Wales spent £4.5bn, or 18% of the total council tax bill, on dealing with refuse in 2007/08. The biggest spender on waste was Cambridge (43%), followed by Berwick-on-Tweed (37%) and Aylesbury Vale (36%).

The Audit Commission's report, entitled Well Disposed, emphasises that the UK is on track to meet targets for reducing the amount of waste that gets dumped in landfill. But the report also confirms that more can be done. While countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium are recycling 65% of their waste, the UK still disposes of 68% of its waste by sending it to landfill (57%) or incinerators (9%).

Junk Mail

Perhaps the most striking finding in the report is that of the total £4.5bn spent on waste in 2007/08, only £43m went on initiatives aiming to reduce waste. Even cutting back on junk mail, generally regarded as a relatively painless way of reducing waste, is hardly being promoted by local councils; 75% of council in England and Wales do not encourage people to register with junk mail opt-out schemes such as the Mailing Preference Service.

Local councils nevertheless do have strong incentives for encouraging householders to reduce and recycle waste. In 2007/08, councils paid an estimated 900m in Landfill Tax to central government. This amount is set to rise, as the tax will increase by 20% next year, from £40 to £48 per tonne of waste.

Working tirelessly

In response to the findings, the Local Government Association told the Guardian that councils are "working tirelessly" to boost recycling rates and reduce the amount of money Council Tax payers have to pay for waste disposal. A spokesperson from the government's Waste and Resources Action Programme confirmed that the organisation is "getting very high levels of interest […] for waste prevention from local authorities".

Anti-waste campaigners remain unconvinced and criticised local councils for not doing enough to cut waste. Michael Warhurst of Friends of the Earth said that too many valuable materials are still going into landfill and that more resources should be put into waste prevention and educating the public.