London waste stats released

London’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published estimates from the department’s 2007/08 survey of municipal waste. These estimates are based on data submitted by all local authorities to WasteDataFlow. The figures for financial year 2007/08 show a further increase in recycling, a decrease in total municipal waste and a decrease in the amount sent to landfill.

This data replaces the provisional estimates published for the first three quarters of 2007/08 in February, May and August.

The total amount of collected municipal waste has decreased by 660,000 tons to an estimated 31.4 million tons in England in 2007/08 compared to 32 million tons in 2006/07, a decrease of 2.2 percent. The average annual change in municipal waste over the five years to 2007/08 was a decrease of 0.6 percent.

In total, 45.1 percent (14.2 million tons) of municipal waste had some sort of value (recycling, composting, energy from waste and fuel manufacture) recovered from it in 2007/08, a rise from 41.8 percent (13.5 million tons) in 2006/07.

The proportion of municipal waste being recycled or composted increased from 30.6 percent in 2006/07 to 34.0 percent in 2007/08. The proportion of waste incinerated with energy recovery remained the same between 2006/07 and 2007/08 at 11 percent.

The proportion of municipal waste being disposed of in landfill has continued to decrease from 57.9 percent in 2006/07 to 54.4 percent in 2007/08.

The tonnage of municipal waste disposed of in landfill has also decreased again from 18.6 million tons in 2006/07 to 17.1 million tons in 2007/08.

In 2007/08, household sources accounted for 88.7 percent of municipal waste, 27.9 million tons, which equates to 1,100 lbs. of household waste per person, of which 377 lbs. was recycled.

The amount of waste collected from household sources decreased by 1.9 percent in 2007/08, and from 28.4 million tons in 2006/07 to 27.9 million tons in 2007/08. The average annual change in total household waste over the last five years is a decrease of 0.4 percent.

The proportion of household waste recycled (including composting and reuse) has continued to increase, rising from 30.9 percent in 2006/07 to 34.5 percent in 2007/08. This increase in the national recycling rate of 3.6 percentage points is slightly lower than the increase of 4.2 percentage points observed for the last two years.

In absolute terms the amount of household waste sent for recycling or composting has increased by 10 percent, from 8.8 million tons in 2006/07 to 9.6 million tons in 2007/08.

The amount of household waste not re-used, recycled or composted was 18.3 million tons, a decrease of 7.0 percent from 2006/07. This equates to 714 lbs. per person, or 1,620 lbs. per household, of collected residual household waste.