We all need to reduce the amount of waste that we generate, because we are running out of landfill sites where most of our waste is taken to be buried in the ground. Disposing of recyclable materials in a landfill site is a waste of valuable resources.
The England ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was 43.9 per cent in 2015. This is a decrease of 0.9 percentage points, from 44.8 per cent in 2014. Recycling rates had previously been increasing each year. This is the first time the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate has been lower than 44 per cent since 2011.
In 2015 the decrease in the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was driven by a 4.8 per cent fall in ‘organic recycling’ set against unusually high figures for 2014, particularly for January to March 2015 and April to June 2015 compared to the same quarters in 2014. There was a smaller decrease of 1.1 per cent in the amount of dry recycling in 2015 compared to 2014. Overall the total amount sent for recycling fell by 2.7 per cent to nearly 9.8 million tonnes.
The most recent quarterly data is for January to March 2016. For the financial year of 2015/16 the ‘waste from households’ recycling rate was 43.9 per cent compared to 44.7 per cent. This is a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared to 2014/15.
Total waste from households amounted to 22.2 million tonnes in 2015, a decrease of 0.6 per cent on 2014. This is equivalent to 407 kg per person, down from 413 kg per person in 2014 (1.4%) but very similar to the three year average of 409 kg per person for 2012 to 2014.
As a consequence of less household waste being generated, the tonnage of local authority collected waste being sent to landfill is also decreasing.
The most recent reuse/ recycling and composting rates achieved in Amber Valley are listed in Table 1. Please also see Graph 1 and Graph 2 showing a graphical representation of recycling rates and kg of waste produced per head.
| Years | Reduce / reuse and recycling rates achieved | Waste produced KG per head in Amber Valley | Contamination % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-03 | 8.11% | - | - |
| 2003-04 | 8.65% | - | - |
| 2004-05 | 9.3% | - | - |
| 2005-06 | 17.64% | - | - |
| 2006-07 | 25.64% | 580.72 | - |
| 2007-08 | 26.79% | 569.63 | - |
| 2008-09 | 28.4% *includes waste composted | 563.13 | - |
| 2009-10 | 27.7% *includes waste composted | 568.99 | - |
| 2010-11 | 26.9% *includes waste composted | 571.38 | - |
| 2011-12 | 26.7% *includes waste composted | 551.16 | - |
| 2012-13 | 28.0% *includes waste composted | 551.65 | - |
| 2013-14 | 33.0% *includes waste composted | 549.19 | - |
| 2014-15 | 32.9% *includes waste composted | 550.73 | - |
| 2015-16 | 32.7% *includes waste composted | 554.04 | - |
| 2016-17 | 32.2% *includes waste composted | 561.01 | 8.84 |
| 2017-18 | 32.9% *includes waste composted | 538.50 | 8.09 |
| 2018-19 | 32.9% *includes waste composted | 537.03 | 8.09 |
| 2019-20 | 31.3% *includes waste composted | 551.93 | 19.7 |
| 2020-21 | 31.3% *includes waste composted | 583.63 | 23.4 |
We would like to say thank you to all the residents that support the recycling schemes provided and encourage you to continue to do so in the future, in order that we can continue to divert recyclable waste away from landfill.
Contact the team directly on 01773 841326 or email refuse@ambervalley.gov.uk
