Businesses across the North East generate over two million tonnes of waste each year, with a third being sent to landfill.
The organisation, which was formed to champion sustainable practices in the region, assessed the waste arisings of 1,036 businesses across 12 sectors.
The NESRB study builds on research carried out by Defra in 2009, which aimed to offer the first comprehensive analysis of commercial and industrial waste arisings in England since the last formal sector survey in 2002/03 (see letsrecycle.com story). Two hundred and seventy six businesses in the North East participated in survey,
And, the NESRB study known as the North East England Commercial and Industrial Waste Survey indicates that 2,176,587 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste is generated, on average, by businesses operating in the North East each year.
In total, 723,085 tonnes (33%) of waste was found to be sent to landfill, while 778,680 tonnes (35%) of waste arisings were recycled. Other methods, such as reuse, composting and land-spreading accounted for 1,059,568 tonnes, while 178,288 tonnes was sent for energy recovery.
The main waste stream generated by businesses was a mixed waste, which is a residual waste left after segregation for recycling. The second most common was non-metallic waste, such as paper, card, plastics, textiles and glass.
Furthermore, it found that the largest proportion of waste arose in the Tyne & Wear area, which accounted for 893,421 tonnes of annual waste arisings. On a sector basis, the chemical manufacturing sector contributed 15% of the overall waste each year.
Infrastructure
It is envisioned that the findings of the study will help waste and recycling businesses to target infrastructure and collection operations in the region.
Helen Watson, coordinator for NESRB, said: The report and its findings represent one of the most crucial pieces of work the Board has undertaken and the level of support and interest from participating businesses and organisation was particularly encouraging.
Our report and extensive data will prove invaluable to waste planners and policy developers in the region in scoping the use of the regions resources in the future.
Consultancy Urban Mines, in partnership with construction consultancy specialist Gardiner and Theobald, carried out the survey on behalf of the NESRB between October and December 2010, with additional data being gathered for the 2009/10 financial year.
Funding for the project was provided by regional development agency One North East and the Association of North East Councils (ANEC).
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