A green campaign group has called on the government to raise recycling targets to 70 per cent.
Friends of the Earth (FoE) told the website Let's Recycle that current targets are not high enough in the UK.
Earlier in the year, the government failed to hit the goal of 40 per cent recycling.
Becky Slater, waste campaigner for FoE, said: "We would be very keen for the government to introduce a 70% recycling target and we would like to see that introduced for 2020.
"If the right effort was put in it would be definitely possible, certain parts of the country are already recycling that level."
The coalition was also criticised for only raising recycling targets for plastics and steel following its failure to reach its own recycling target.
Scotland currently only has a non-binding 70 per cent target for recycling across its local authorities, while the Welsh Assembly Government last week legislated for a 70 per cent mandatory target.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the recycling industry includes; elevators – bucket elevators – valves
