The estimated amount of residual waste excluding major mineral wastes sent to landfill decreased by 4.7% from 238.0kg per person to 226.8kg per person between 2019 and 2022, figures from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) showed.
The figures from Defra also showed that the amount of residual waste sent to Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities increased by 7.0% from 286.7kg per person to 306.8kg per person.
In 2022, the estimated amount of residual waste excluding major mineral wastes per person in England was 558.8 kilograms per person, representing a decrease of 2.8% from 2019, the figures showed.
According to the figures from Defra, the estimated amount of municipal residual waste in England was 464.8kg per person in 2022, representing a decrease of 0.6% from 2021 and a decrease of 0.9% from 2019.
Between 2019 and 2022, the estimated amount of municipal residual waste sent to landfill decreased by 6.1% from 176.3kg per person to 165.5kg per person. While the amount of municipal residual waste sent to EfW increased by 13.1% from 242.3kg per person to 274.1kg per person.
The amount of residual waste sent outside the UK for energy recovery decreased by 49.9% from 50.2kg per person to 25.2kg per person. These figures are the same for both measures of residual waste as they are considered to originate from municipal sources, Defra said.
These methods both have negative consequences for the environment, so it is encouraging to see the amount of residual waste produced is falling.
Between 2019 and 2022, the amounts of municipal residual food, plastic, paper and card, metal, and glass waste decreased by 0.9% in kg per person but increased by 0.7% in tonnes, the figures showed. Defra said residual municipal food waste made up the largest share of these materials, whilst residual municipal glass waste made up the smallest.
Defra said that due to the methodology, these estimates are “identical” to the estimates of municipal residual waste but are scaled by the proportion of each material in the municipal residual waste stream.
Commenting on the figures, Diane Crowe, Group Sustainability Director at international circular economy specialist Reconomy, said: “This data shines a spotlight on the amount of waste we are creating which cannot be recycled or reused and therefore must be sent to landfill or incineration.
“These methods both have negative consequences for the environment, so it is encouraging to see the amount of residual waste produced is falling. Likewise, there has been a notable downtick over the past few years in the amount of residual waste sent to landfill, damaging ambitions of a more circular economy.
“The UK is clearly making good progress towards a more circular waste management model but there are powerful levers of change that the industry, working with government, must begin to pull to accelerate this transition.”
