Today (26 September), SEPA has published official statistics which provide detail of household waste collected across all local authorities, and for the first time, waste landfilled and waste incinerated in Scotland in 2016.
The statistics show that in 2016 the household waste generated in Scotland increased by 1 percentage point from the 44.2% achieved in 2015.
SEPA reports that the total quantity of household waste generated in Scotland was 2.50 million tonnes in 2016, an increase of 30 thousand tonnes (1.2%) since 2015. And, there was a 19 thousand tonne (1.6%) decrease in household waste disposed to landfill.
Landfill
The decrease in waste being sent to landfill is said to be due to a combination of increased recycling and an increase in incineration of household waste.
Data for all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are available on SEPA’s website.
Also, for the first time, official statistics have been published specifically for waste landfilled and waste incinerated within Scotland during 2016.
The total quantity of waste landfilled in Scotland in 2016 was 3.72 million tonnes, a decrease of 465 thousand tonnes (11.1%) from 2015. SEPA said this “is consistent with a decreasing trend of waste disposed to landfill over the past decade.”
Incineration
The total quantity of waste incinerated in Scotland in 2016 was 683 thousand tonnes. This was an increase of 28 thousand tonnes (4.3%) from 2015, and an increase of 273 thousand tonnes (66.6%) from 2011.
According to SEPA, data on waste is collected to monitor policy effectiveness, and to support policy development, particularly commitments in the Scottish Government’s Making Things Last – A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland.
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