Commercial and Industrial Waste Survey, 2010
England
Waste generated by the industrial and commercial sectors fell by 29.3% to 48 million tonnes in 2009, compared to the 2002/03 survey. The industrial sector generated 24.2 million tonnes and the commerical sector generated 23.8 million tonnes.
A total of 25.0 million tonnes (52%) of commercial and industrial waste was recycled or reused in 2009, compared to 42% in 2002/03. A total of 11.3 million tonnes (23%) was sent to landfill in 2009, compared to 41% in 2002/03.
Nearly half (49.7%) of all commercial and industrial waste was mixed or non-metallic waste. Mineral wastes also generated a large proportion, 8.9 million tonnes or 18.5%.
South West
Commercial and industrial waste estimates for the South West region total 4.07 million tonnes; 8.5% of the national estimate. This is a decline of 1.5 million tonnes or 26.7%, compared to 2002/03.
Over 2.03 million tonnes (49.8%) of commercial and industrial waste was recycled or reused (including composted waste) in 2009, compared to 40.1% in 2002/03. A total of 801.3 thousand tonnes (19.7%) was sent to landfill in 2009, compared to 42.3% in the last survey.
Mixed wastes and non-metallic wastes account for over half of commercial and industrial waste generated in the South West. The same can be seen nationally and across other waste types, with one exception – mineral wastes. The South West deals with proportionally less; 7.0% compared to 18.5% nationally.
The retail and wholesale sector accounts for 21.3% (868.6 thousand tonnes) of the region's estimated commercial and industrial wastes. The food, drink and tobacco sector follows with 13.1% (532.8 thousand tonnes). Other sectors range between 3.5% and 9.8%, with Education accounting for the least.
South West Survey Results by Waste Planning Authority
A more intensive survey was carried out in the South West in order to improve estimates for the Waste Planning Authority level (WPA). Inevitably with smaller sample numbers within WPA’s, it was necessary to fill data gaps using a top down approach, where regional or national means multiplied by the business population are used. Therefore there will be differences between the regional estimate of the National report and that using only local data for the WPAs. More details on the survey and methodology are available on the Defra website.
Total arisings calculated for the 16 WPAs within the South West were 3.8 Million tonnes. Gloucestershire, Devon and Somerset accounted for nearly 39% of the regions commercial and industrial wastes, the rest varied from less than 0.1% in the case of the Isles of Scilly to 9.5% in Cornwall.
As in the national survey, the generation of waste across businesses still show the retail and wholesale, followed by the food drink and tobacco sectors, to have the greatest proportions; nearly 36% combined, of total arisings. Nearly 64% of arisings from the retail and wholesale sector, came from 6 WPAs (Devon (15.6%), Cornwall (10.9%), Gloucestershire (10.4%), Somerset (10.2%), City of Bristol (8.6%) and Wiltshire (8.1%)). Nearly 69% of waste generated by the food, drink and tobacco sector comes from only 4 WPAs (Dorset (21.0%), Somerset (20.9%), Cornwall (14.9%) and Gloucestershire (12.0)).
As previously identified in the national report non-metallic wastes and mixed wastes account for the greatest proportions of total arisings. In the South West survey they account for 32.0 and 28.0% respectively. The charts below show the amounts and proportions across each WPA and waste type. With a few exceptions, several waste types have a similar proportion of the overall total arisings, across the WPAs e.g Healthcare wastes only vary between 1.3 and 3.4% across the WPAs. Common sludges and discarded equipment follow a similar pattern, with the exception that the Isle of Scilly recorded 10.3% of discarded equipment; though arisings here only total 1.3 thousand tonnes.
Of the 16 WPAs in the region 9 recycle, reuse or compost over 50% of their commercial or industrial waste. Dorset has the lowest recycling rate at 36.2%. However, Dorset also had the highest proportion (31.9%) of waste where the waste management type was recorded as unknown, some of this may well have been recycled.
More details on the survey and methodology are available on the Defra website.
