The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published the latest Municipal Waste Management Survey today, based on information supplied by English local authorities for the financial year 2001-02.
The survey included the following findings:
- Total waste generation in England grew by 2.4% compared to 2000-01, from 28.1 to 28.8 million tonnes in 2001-02;
- 22.3% of all waste (6.4 million tonnes) had some sort of value recovered (via recycling, composting or energy recovery) – up 1.3% from the previous year's figure;
- 13.5% of municipal waste was recycled or composted, up from 12.3% while the incineration of municipal waste remained fairly constant at 9%;
- The landfilling of municipal waste decreased by percentage, dropping to 77% from 78%, but increased slightly by tonnage from 22.1 million tonnes to 22.3 million tonnes.
The survey revealed that 89% of municipal waste came from households (up by 1.7%), and reported that the actual household recycling rate was 12.4%, up from 11.2% the previous year.
Other English household statistics for 2001-02 include:
- The average householder produced 522kg of waste, up by 1.3% from 515kg;
- The amount of household waste recycled at civic amenity and bring sites increased by almost 11% to 2.2 million tonnes;
- The amount of material collected via kerbside schemes grew by 18% to 1 million tonnes;
- Kerbside service coverage rose from an estimated 51% of households to about 58%
Regional variations in English household recycling rates were as follows:
- 17.7% recycling rate in the South-East of England
- 17.3% in the East
- 16.3% in the South West
- 13.7% in the East Midlands
- 10.1% in the West Midlands
- 9.2% in London
- 8.9% in the North West
- 8.8% in Yorkshire and Humberside
- 5.1% in the North East
For the full results of the 2001-02 Municipal Waste Management Survey of English local authorities, click here.
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