2000/2001 Municipal Waste Management Survey



The UK Government's Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has issued the full report on the 2000/2001 Municipal Waste Management Survey. This gives national and regional statistics on the collection, management and recycling of municipal waste by local authorities in England. Results from the report include:



Municipal waste arisings



A further increase in the amount of municipal waste collected to 28.2 million tonnes in 2000/01, 2.7 per cent more than 1999/00.



Municipal waste management and disposal



A decrease in the proportion of municipal waste disposed of to landfill, from 80 per cent in 1999/00 to 78 per cent in 2000/01. However, there was a slight increase in the actual amount of waste being managed this way, from 21.9 million tonnes to 22.1 million tonnes.



In total, some sort of value (recycling, composting, energy recovery) was recovered from about 6.0 million tonnes (21 per cent) of municipal waste in 2000/01, compared with 5.5 million tonnes (or 20 per cent) in 1999/00.



Household waste and recycling



About 89 per cent of municipal waste comes from households, in 2000/01, this represented about 1.2 tonnes of waste per household per year or about half a tonne of waste per person.



The proportion of household waste recycled (including composting) has increased steadily, from 7 per cent in 1996/97 to 11 per cent in 2000/01.



Indicator of Sustainable Development (A5), Household waste and recycling in England: 1983/84 - 2000/01 1983/84 to 1995/96 estimates based on England and Wales data



The proportion of households served by 'kerbside' recycling collection schemes has increased from 48 per cent in 1999/00 to 51 per cent in 2000/01. Over the same period the amount of waste collected for recycling through such schemes has increased by 14 per cent to 818 thousand tonnes in 2000/01.



In 2000/01 paper and card accounted for a third of all waste collected for recycling, with 0.9 million tonnes being collected. The next most common materials collected were compostable waste (29 per cent, 0.8 million tonnes) and glass (14 per cent, 0.4 million tonnes).



Regional Variations



Landfill remained the dominant waste management route in all regions during 2000/01. The highest proportion of waste going to landfill was in the North West (90 per cent) and the lowest in the West Midlands (58 per cent).



Regional household recycling rates were highest for the South East (16.4 per cent), the East (15.1 per cent) and the South West (15.0 per cent). The North East (4.1 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (7.2 per cent) had the lowest recycling rates.



You can see the full study (it seems web-based and not to exist in a single document) at DEFRA's website, at:



http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/mwb0001/index.htm