29 November 2006 | Paul Snell

Total spend on recycled products in London was less this year than last, a report has found.

The Purchase report 2006, released by London Remade, an organisation that promotes the purchase of recycled products, said spend on recycled material was £157.9 million in 2006, compared with £176.5 million in 2005.

It said the drop was the result of two organisations in the travel sector making large purchases the previous year that didn't have to be repeated in 2006. It said that if the figures from these two organisations were excluded, spend on recycled products actually rose from £25 million in 2005 to £61.1 million in 2006.

It also found that while the overall amount spent had fallen, the impact of buying recycled goods had improved. For example, the amount of waste not sent to landfill sites increased from just over 385,000 tonnes in 2005, to more than 394,000 this year. The report also estimated that by buying recycled products, organisations reduced the release of carbon dioxide emissions by 175,000 tonnes. There are no comparable figures for 2005.

The report also found the number of suppliers providing green products has increased from 125 to 244.

Purchase report 2006 was compiled from interviews conducted with 112 signatories of Ken Livingstone's 'Green Procurement Code'. The code, which now has 533 public and private sector organisations signed up, was established in 2001 to help and encourage the purchase of recycled products.

"There are increasingly fewer reasons not to purchase recycled products," said Livingstone. "Increased demand generated by environmentally responsible companies has led to a range of high quality and value-for-money products on the market."

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