Municipal waste account for around 8% of the waste stream; however receive a disproportionate amount of attention and legislation.

England

29.1 million tonnes of MSW generated in 2003/04 in England

• 72% sent to landfill
• 19% sent for recycling/composting
• 9% sent for incineration/EfW

Further details on MSW and household waste stats in England can be found at  http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/index.htm

Statistics include how MSW is collected and what materials are most commonly recycled.

NB. This figure is for the last full year of data, provisional data shows England is currently on target to recycle 23% for 2004/05 

Scotland

3.32 million tonnes of MSW generated in 03/04 in Scotland

• 85.4% sent to landfill
• 2.2% Incineration/EfW
• 12.4% recycled

NB This figure is for the last full year data, provisional data shows Scotland is currently on target to recycle 24% for 2004/05

For a full range of waste stats in Scotland see SEPA’s Waste Data Digest at http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/wds/wdd_5.pdf

Wales

1.83 million tonnes of MSW generated in 03/04 in Wales

Northern Ireland

1.05 million tonnes of MSW generated in 03/04  

 
• 82.9% landfilled
• 17.1% recycled and composted

Source Towards resource management: A consultation on proposals for a new waste management strategy can be found at

http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/pubs/publications/towardsresourcemanagement.pdf

The table shows commercial waste arisings from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A recent report estimated that in 1998 150 million tonnes of solid waste was produced from the Construction Industry throughout the United Kingdom. A break down of the composition of this waste is available from the report entitled; The construction Industry Mass Balance: Resource use, wastes and emissions. See www.viridis.co.uk

Around 50% of Construction and Demolition wastes are recycled, although there are no targets to meet there are a number of initiatives to increase the level of recycling within the construction industry with the requirement for site waste management plans under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act one of the latest.

The figure of 150 million tonnes is somewhat greater that the 90 million tonnes the ODPM estimated arose in England and Wales in 2001

www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_606686.hcsp

Around 5.2 million tonnes of special waste were produced in England and Wales in 2001. The sources of hazardous waste are as follows

• 21% from oil/water mixtures
• 20% from Construction and demolition wastes and asbestos
• 14% not otherwise specified
• 11% Organic chemicals process waste
• Remainder from various sources

In 2003, approximately 490,000 tonnes of Special waste were consigned within Scotland and 76,400 tonnes were exported to England and Wales (exported total may include waste already consigned within Scotland and may not include Special waste collected as part of a carriers round eminating from England). Source SEPA Waste Data Digest 5  http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/wds/wdd_5.pdf

Northern Ireland consigned nearly 50,000 tonnes of special waste in 2002
http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/pubs/publications/Hazardous_Waste.pdf

NB. These figures were prior to the introduction of the amended EWC which added further categories to what will be defined as hazardous waste.

There was just over 10 million tonnes of packaging waste in the UK in 2003. 8.3 million tonnes of this fell to obligated business (ie. those handling over 50 tonnes of packaging a year and have a turnover in excess of £2 million). For a break down by material type see http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/packaging/pdf/package-datanote.pdf

This link will also provide predicted tonnages and the obligated recovery requirements up to 2008 and is a good source of information on a range of packaging waste data.