Summary
69 million tonnes of waste was deposited at landfill sites in England and Wales in 2005. This compares to 72 million tonnes in 2005 a reduction of 4%. Overall landfill deposits have fallen by 18% since 2000/1.
New landfill classification and waste deposits
The implementation of the Landfill Directive introduced three types of landfill:
- Inert only landfills;
- Non-hazardous landfills; and
- Hazardous waste landfills.
There are restrictions on the types of waste that each type of landfill can take. Hazardous waste, for example, can only go to hazardous landfill sites, or, for stable non-reactive hazardous waste (SNHRW), to dedicated cells at non-hazardous landfills.
In 2006 75% of deposits went to sites accepting non-hazardous biodegradable waste, 19% went to inert only sites, 4% to restricted-user sites (mainly ashes and slags from metal manufacture and power stations) and the remaining 1% to hazardous waste sites. Our 2006 returns show an increase in the number of non-hazardous landfills with separate cells where stabilised non-reactive hazardous waste can be deposited. However the amount of waste deposited in those cells was very small.
Landfill deposit trends
- Deposits at sites accepting bio-degradable waste (non-hazardous and SNHRW landfills) fell by 3.5 million tonnes while those at inert-only landfill sites increased by 800,000 tonnes between 2005 and 2006.
- There were big reductions in landfill deposits in West Midlands (-15%), Yorkshire & the Humber (-14%), North West (-12%), and London (-12%) compared to 2005. These were offset to some extent by small increases in landfill deposits in the East Midlands and South East.
Site inputs by region and waste type
- The highest landfill deposits were in the South East and East of England; the lowest in the North East and London regions and Wales.
- The proportion of inert/C&D waste deposits was highest in the South East and North East where it accounted for around half of all the waste that went to landfill.
