Defra reports marked decline in C&I waste

The Survey of Commercial and Industrial Waste Arisings 2010 – Final Results covers the calendar year of 2009 and estimates that the total commercial and industrial (C&I) waste generation in England is 48 million tonnes.

This is a marked decline from the figures published under the last formal survey of the sector in 2002/03, where it was revealed that 67.9 million tonnes of waste from these sectors was generated. This equates to a 29% drop in waste arisings over the past seven years.

Commenting on the finalised results, recycling minister Lord Henley said: “Businesses across England have clearly been working hard to not only recycle more, but also reduce the waste they produce in the first place.

“As part of the waste review, we'll be using this type of information to look at how we can better support businesses to keep doing the right thing, and improve access to affordable recycling services.”

The breakdown of the two sectors reveals that more waste is generated in industrial sector, which produced 24.2 million tonnes compared to 23.8 million tonnes in the commercial sector.

However, the industrial sector had shown the most reduction in waste arising since 2002/03 – falling by 13.4 million tonnes (36%) compared to a 6.5 million (21%) decline in the commercial sector.

Recycling

The survey also reveals that the interim estimates proffered by Defra last month, where it estimated that there was 55.8 million tonnes generated in the sector, were too high (see letsrecycle.com story).

Defra clarifies this oversight in the survey documents, stating that the interim data was based on returns from 60% of the market and the final results were subject to a “more rigorous grossing” technique.

Also within the finalised figures, it emerged that 52% of C&I was recycled in 2009 – as opposed to the interim estimation of 58%. The amount of material landfilled between the 2002/03 survey and the 2009 survey fell by 18% over this period.

Assessing business performance, it emerged that the retail and wholesale sector produced the most waste during the 2009 period, with 9,212,000 tonnes of material. Meanwhile, the transport and storage sector recycled the most material, achieving a 62.2% reuse and recycling rate off of 2,189,000 tonnes of waste.

Criticism

And, while the recycling minister welcomed the figures, campaign group Friends of the Earth criticised the government over its proposals for waste infrastructure – given the marked decline in commercial and industrial waste arisings between the two surveys.

Julian Kirby, resource use campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This report makes a mockery of claims we need to plan for ever increasing generation of waste. As with household waste, it's now clear that business waste too is in decline, and has been since before the recession.

“Many businesses are putting the government to shame by forging ahead with their own ‘zero waste' plans – little wonder when you consider that the UK buries or incinerates at least £650m per year of recyclable materials.”

Mr Kirby said that if the coalition government intends to create a ‘zero waste society' it would need businesses and councils to reduce waste through measures such as product design, sharing best practice and “stopping building pointless, polluting and hugely expensive incinerators”.