Defra statistics confirm fall in waste arisings

According to data published today (May 7) from the government's WasteDataFlow database, England recycled 40% of the 6.48 million tonnes of household waste generated between July and September 2008 – which was down from 6.69 million tonnes for the same period in 2007.

When assessed for the full year to the end of September 2008 – to take into account seasonal fluctuations – this shows that household waste levels fell from 25.3 million tonnes to 24.9 million tonnes compared to the last audited figures available (April 2007 to March 2008) – a drop of 400,000 tonnes over the year.

The indication in the figures comes shortly after Defra confirmed that it may need to “revise and review” existing models to predict waste growth over concerns waste arisings had fallen since the onset of the recession (see letsrecycle.com story).

In addition to the fall in household waste, overall municipal waste arisings fell from 28.5 million tonnes in 2007/08 to 28 million tonnes in the year ending September 2008, municipal waste sent to landfill fell from 15.5 million tonnes to 14.6 million tonnes and the average household residual waste per head fell from 328 kg per person to 314 kg per head.

The household recycling rate for the comparative annual periods also showed a rise of 1.8%, from 34.5% to 36.3%.

Regions 

The best performing regions were the East Midlands and the East, which recorded 43.8% and 42.9% household recycling rates respectively, while London remained the worst performer with a 27.5% rate for the year to the end of September 2008.

A Defra spokesperson said: “These latest statistics show that all the good work by local authorities and the public to continue recycling is paying off. We continue to work to bring down the amount of waste sent to landfill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and these results show that by encouraging greater recycling and supporting local authorities we remain on course to meet the 2010 EU landfill target.”

For July to September 2008, all 394 local authorities submitted data to WasteDataFlow and, at the time the data was downloaded for release on March 30, all authorities had completed validation.

Estimates for Quarter 3 – October to December 2008 – are set to be published in early August and the final annual set of data for the financial year 2008/09 will be published in early November 2009.