2024 saw a slight decrease of 0.5% from 58.7 million tonnes in 2023. On a per capita basis, this equates to 996 kilograms per person, down 1.6% year-on-year.
According to the statistics, between 2019 and 2024, residual waste sent to landfill fell by 16.8%, declining from 45.5 million tonnes to 37.8 million tonnes.
Over the same period, the amount of residual waste treated via incineration, including Energy from Waste (EfW), rose by 16.9%, increasing from 16.1 million tonnes to 18.9 million tonnes.
Commenting on the figures, David Gudgeon, Head of External Affairs at Reconomy Connect, said the downward trend was a positive signal: “The continued fall in residual waste to its lowest level in five years is an encouraging sign of progress, particularly as reductions in waste contamination help more materials avoid being lost from the system.”
However, he cautioned that the data highlights a structural challenge within England’s waste system.
Gudgeon added: “The data also shows a growing reliance on incineration, which, while preferable to landfill, still represents a missed opportunity to retain valuable materials within the circular economy.
“The recent introduction of mandatory food waste collections for households in England – under Simpler Recycling – will reduce the level of residual waste being sent to either landfill or incineration.”
“There is significant scope to go further in the transition to a circular economy if the Government’s Circular Economy Growth Plan includes a roadmap for textile recycling.”
Municipal residual waste
At the municipal level, the picture is broadly similar, with marginal year-on-year change but more pronounced shifts over the longer term.
In 2024, municipal residual waste was estimated at 26.1 million tonnes, effectively unchanged from 2023, representing a slight decrease of 0.1%.
Landfill use for municipal residual waste has continued to decline at a faster rate than the overall waste stream. Between 2019 and 2024, the volume sent to landfill fell by 23.3%, from 9.9 million tonnes to 7.6 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, incineration of municipal residual waste increased by 23.1% over the same period, rising from 13.6 million tonnes to 16.8 million tonnes.
Gudgeon added: “For businesses, embedding circular strategies is not just an environmental imperative but a commercial one too, helping to reduce residual waste and unlock cost savings, particularly across resource-intensive sectors such as construction.”
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