The Welsh Government has published its first ‘Dry Recycling End Destinations’ report, with the aim of allowing the public to see where their waste has ended up. Drawing information from WasteDataFlow, the report lists how each local authority in Wales disposed of its waste for the six months from October 2010-March 2011; future reports will cover 12-month periods.
Each of Wales’s 22 local authorities is broken down in terms of its population, recycling rates and collection type, as well as the ‘final destination’ of different recyclables – whether to reprocessor, exporter, treatment facility, and so on. The report concentrates on how sustainably each local authority has recycled the plastics, glass, metals, paper and card waste it collected from residents and businesses.
Produced by SKM Enviros on behalf of the Welsh Government, information for the report was submitted by local authorities in response to questions 19, 58 and/or 100 in WasteDataFlow. Question 19 reads: “Q019: What is the final destination of your materials sent for recycling?” It is answered by all local authorities unless they have used Question 100, and requires data per end destination facility with a material breakdown. Question 58 in WDF reads: “Q058: How many tonnes of recyclables were sent to a Materials Recovery Facility?” It is answered by those local authorities that use one or more MRFs, unless they have used Question 100. It requires data per MRF, but as the inputs are by definition commingled, it does not require a material breakdown. The newest question, number 100, is meant to offer a more flexible and detailed reporting option for waste after collection. It reads: “Q100: This question should be used to record waste sent for treatment or disposal. The end of each route must be the point the waste becomes a resource, or landfill. The question can be used for all waste streams, but usage differs by country.”
From April of this year, all Welsh councils must answer Question 100, as well as reporting reject rates in their figures. The report, however, acknowledges that end destination reporting is still a work in progress: ‘[E]ven if [local authorities] provide a site in England, Wales or Scotland, it may have been exported on from there. Following on from this, it is possible that an authority is not able to ascertain the end destination, so will trace waste as far as reasonably possible. Work is ongoing to improve the reporting of final end destinations of Welsh local authority collected municipal waste within WasteDataFlow.’
Government hopes these statistics will help local authorities target their work to ensure they maximise opportunities to recycle waste. Commenting on the report, Environment Minister, John Griffiths, said: “Wales has the highest recycling rate of any UK country and publication of a report like this shows people what happens to their waste. Next year (2012/13) local authorities will have to recycle 52 per cent of waste to comply with new Welsh Government statutory targets.“
The ‘Dry Recycling End Destinations’ report, which details each local authority’s performance, can be read at: www.wales.gov.uk/waste
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