Waste

• Municipal waste
• Waste management 
• Flytipping

• Just over 2.7 million tonnes of municipal waste was collected in the South West in 2009/10.  This was 3% lower than in the previous year, yet still over 59 thousand tonnes more than in 2000 / 2001.

• Residual household waste equated to 593 kg of household waste per household - 32 kg less than the English average.

• The amount of waste sent to landfill continues to decline, from 2.2 million tonnes in 2000/01 to nearly 1.5 million tonnes in 2009/10.

• Recycling and composting has increased significantly in the South West, from 14.9% in 2000/01 to 43.5% in 2009/10.

• The South West managed a total of around 11.6 million tonnes of waste during 2010.

• The South West was an overall exporter of hazardous waste in 2010.

• The South West incinerated the least waste of all the English regions in 2010.

• Yet again the South West maintains it's position and continues to have the lowest number of flytipping incidents out of all the English regions, with 3.4% of the national total.

• Disturbingly 58% of all fly tipping in the region can be attributed to household waste, there has not been any noticeable improvement in household waste ‘dumping’ over last year's figure

There is a Regional Waste Strategy for the South West.  This strategy is helping to address waste issues across the region and sets out how to make the South West a minimum waste region by 2030.  (South West Regional Assembly, 2004).

At present the majority of our waste is sent to landfill, and we are currently running out of space.  Considerable effort is underway to reduce the amount of waste that we create in the first place as well as to find alternative ways of managing the rest, such as recycling.

Fly tipping of waste is a major issue in the UK.  Fly Capture is a national web-based database of fly tipping incidents that went live in April 2004.  It contains information on fly tipping incidents and action taken as well as a vehicle registration hot-list that is encouraging joint working between local authorities.

Pollution incidents such as oil spills or the accidental release of raw sewage can damage the environment.  Pollution can be fatal for fish and invertebrate life, can pose a threat to human health and degrades habitats.  The Environment Agency responds and takes enforcement action against pollution incidents.

Diffuse pollution can arise from many sources, which are generally dispersed and diverse in nature.  Derived from current and past land use in both agriculture and urban environments, sources may individually be small but their collective impact can be damaging.

For more information at a local level on waste and other topics, please see the Local Profiles