Municipal solid waste (MSW) is made up mainly of our household rubbish but also includes similar waste from shops and businesses. Every year, a waste survey is carried out by Defra to find out how much MSW was produced and how much was recycled or disposed of. The results for the East Midlands are summarised below.
At a glance
- Over 2.5 million tonnes of MSW was collected in the East Midlands in 2004/05, an increase of nearly 4% from 2001/02
- Around 90% (2.3 million tonnes) of this was household waste; the remaining 10% was from non-household sources
- 61% of household waste was from regular household collections: 26% from household recycling collection; and 10% from civic amenity sites (excluding waste that goes from these sites to recycling sites)
- The amount of household waste increased by 8% from 2000/01 to 2004/05
- This was mainly due to the increase in waste from household recycling collections, from 277,000 tonnes in 2000/01 to 605,000 tonnes in 2004/05
- MSW from non-household sources rose from 93,000 tonnes in 2000/01 to 172,000 tonnes in 2004/05
- 66% of the region's MSW went to landfill; 27% was recycled or composted; 7% was incinerated to generate energy;
- The amount going to landfill decreased by 6% between 2000/01 and 2004/05
- The amount of MSW recycled or composted almost doubled between 2000/01 and 2004/05, rising from 354,000 tonnes to 685,000 tonnes
Lots of things that could be reused or recycled often get disposed of as waste. Think about whether you could make better use of your rubbish and help reduce the amount of landfilled waste.
Find out more
