Circular economy
In 2024 to 2025, Coventry generated approximately 115,000 tonnes of municipal waste, with just 3.2% sent to landfill. The majority of Coventry’s non-recyclable waste is processed at the Bar Road Energy-from-Waste facility, located near the city centre.
Over the years, this facility has undergone significant upgrades to enhance its efficiency. It now not only generates electricity but also supplies heat to several key buildings across the city through the Heatline network. Beneficiaries include the Council House, The Wave leisure centre, Coventry Cathedral, and soon, the Coventry University campus.
A major milestone in the city’s recycling efforts was the opening of the Sherbourne Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in 2023. This £58 million, state-of-the-art facility, developed in partnership with 8 local councils, is situated alongside the existing Bar Road site on London Road. In 2024 to 2025, it processed over 140,000 tonnes of recyclable materials, significantly boosting regional recycling capacity.
Equipped with AI-powered robotic sorting technology, the MRF ensures high-quality recyclate, which is sold exclusively to UK-based manufacturers. This not only supports the circular economy but also helps Coventry expand the range of materials it can recycle, an essential step toward meeting the city’s environmental goals. In 2024 to 2025 alone, over 24,000 tonnes of recyclable materials collected from Coventry households were treated at the new facility.
The city’s recycling rate reduced from 34.2% in 2023 to 2024 to 32.0% in 2024 to 2025 and continues to remain below the national average of 42.3%. Efforts are ongoing to identify and overcome barriers to recycling participation and to encourage more residents to engage with recycling services.
To support these efforts, all recycling collection vehicles are now equipped with in-cab data collection systems. These devices gather detailed, service-specific information about the waste collected, enabling the council to better understand recycling behaviours and target education and support to areas where it’s needed most.
| Reporting period | Coventry (%) | WMCA (%) | England (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 to 2016 | 30.3% | 36.7% | 43.0% |
| 2016 to 2017 | 29.9% | 36.9% | 43.7% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 32.9% | 36.1% | 43.2% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 34.1% | 34.7% | 43.5% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 33.4% | 34.8% | 43.8% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 34.0% | 32.7% | 42.3% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 28.6% | 31.6% | 42.5% |
| 2022 to 2023 | 30.5% | 32.7% | 41.7% |
| 2023 to 2024 | 34.2% | 33.4% | 42.3% |
| 2024 to 2025 | 32.0% | - | - |
The #CovConnects programme is creating a new circular economy in the city through repairing and refurbishing laptops that are distributed to members of the public who would otherwise be digitally excluded.
