More business waste recycled than landfilled

Over a four year period surveyed by the Environment Agency, recycling and reuse jumped by 13% to exceed landfill by 0.9 million tonnes.

Figures released by the agency show that recycling and reuse in England reached 28.6 million tonnes in 2002/03, compared with only 24.7 million tonnes in 1998/99.

It surveyed 4,500 companies across industry and commerce to derive its findings.

The overall amount of waste produced in England fell slightly over this period, from 68.7 to 67.9 million tonnes.

For Wales, where 2,100 companies were surveyed, the total amount of waste fell from 6.2 to 5.1 million tonnes.

Change


The decline in the amount of waste masked a change between the wastes generated from different sectors.

Commercial waste arisings increased 2.5 million tonnes, while that from industry fell by 3 million tonnes.

The agency said the performance of the retail and wholesale sectors showed they had to “find ways of reducing the amount of waste produced and improving how they dispose of it”.

These sectors were responsible for 70% of all waste going to landfill sites.
Banks, estate agents and other office based services were warned to improve their waste disposal.

The amount of waste heading to landfill sites fell from 32.1 to 27.7 million tonnes.
Half the waste generated by commercial companies was mixed general, with non-metallic waste, mainly paper and card, making up the lion's share of the remainder.

Minerals accounted for 38% of industrial waste, with chemicals, animal and vegetal, mixed and non-metallic accounting for almost all the remainder in roughly similar proportions.

Totals across England and Wales for disposal methods were: recycling and reuse 44%, landfill 40%, treatment and transfer 6%, thermal 3%, land recovery 3%. A further 5% was unrecorded.