Official Statistics

UK statistics on waste

Updated 26 September 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data/uk-statistics-on-waste

The purpose of this release is to announce UK waste estimates that are produced in relation to official reporting requirements. It includes data on:

  • Recycling rate from Waste from Households – new 2022 data
  • Biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill – new 2022 data
  • Packaging waste – new 2022 and 2023 data
  • Recovery rate from construction and demolition (C&D) – new 2021 and 2022 England data
  • Commercial and industrial (C&I) waste – new 2022 England data
  • Total waste generation and final treatment of all waste – new 2020 UK and new 2022 England data
  • Waste infrastructure – new 2022 England data

There is a detailed separate dataset available for all sections.

1. Key points

  • The UK recycling rate for Waste from Households (WfH); including Incinerator Bottom Ash metal (IBAm) was 44.1% in 2022, decreasing from 44.6% in 2021.
  • The recycling rate for WfH increased in all UK countries in 2022 except England. The recycling rate for England was 43.4%, 49.2% in Northern Ireland, 42.1% in Scotland, and 56.9% in Wales.
  • UK biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) sent to landfill decreased to 6.3 million tonnes in 2022 from 6.7 million tonnes in 2021.
  • In 2023, 64.8% of UK packaging waste was recycled, increasing from 62.4% in 2022.
  • It is estimated that the UK generated 40.4 million tonnes of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste in 2020, of which 33.7 million tonnes (83%) was generated in England. The latest estimates for England only, indicate that C&I waste generation was around 33.6 million tonnes in 2022.
  • In 2020, it is estimated that the UK generated 59.4 million tonnes of non-hazardous construction and demolition (C&D) waste, of which 55.0 million tonnes was recovered. England generated 53.9 million tonnes of this waste, of which 50.3 million tonnes was recovered. In 2022, England generated 63.0 million tonnes of non-hazardous C&D waste, of which 59.4 million tonnes was recovered.
  • The UK generated 191.2 million tonnes of total waste in 2020, with England responsible for 85% (162.8 million tonnes) of the UK total.

2. Data revisions in this update

This release contains several data updates:

  • Waste from Household figures – Minor revisions have been made to the Scotland figures for 2013 and 2017 to 2021, due to historical updates for several local authorities. Revisions have been made to the 2020 England figures due to an update to historical data.
  • Biodegradable municipal waste to landfill figures – Revisions have been made to the 2020 figures for England, 2019 figures for Wales and 2019 to 2021 Northern Ireland figures due to revised site return data.
  • Revisions have been made to the construction and demolition (C&D) figures for England for 2020, due to revised site return data. This change also impacts the UK C&D figure for 2020.
  • Revisions have been made to the commercial and industrial (C&I) figures for England for 2020 and 2021 to correct an error in the calculations. This change also impacts the UK C&I figure for 2020.

3. Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19)

The reporting period for some of these statistics coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdowns.

4. Waste from households (WfH)

Updated, with new figures for 2022

WfH is the agreed harmonised UK measure used to report household recycling. The UK currently defines ‘household waste’ using the WfH measure.

Updated UK figures for 2022 are available as summarised in Table 1 and Figure 1. The recycling figures all include metal recovered and recycled after incineration (incinerator bottom ash metal; IBAm). This methodological change was introduced in the February 2018 release for 2016 data. At an overall UK level this change in methodology raised the recycling rate for 2022 by around 0.9 percentage points (equivalent to 240 thousand tonnes; see dataset. For more details on this change refer to the methodology section.

Table 1: Waste from Households, UK and country split, 2015–2022 (thousand tonnes and % rate)

Year Measure UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
2015 Arisings 26,675 22,225 818 2,354 1,278
  Of which recycled 11,865 9,849 344 991 681
  Recycling rate 44.5% 44.3% 42.1% 42.1% 53.3%
2016 Arisings 27,300 22,770 845 2,378 1,307
  Of which recycled 12,318 10,217 366 1,018 716
  Recycling rate 45.1% 44.9% 43.3% 42.8% 54.8%
2017 Arisings 26,897 22,437 843 2,345 1,271
  Of which recycled 12,250 10,139 390 1,019 702
  Recycling rate 45.5% 45.2% 46.3% 43.5% 55.2%
2018 Arisings 26,411 22,033 841 2,292 1,244
  Of which recycled 11,896 9,840 401 981 673
  Recycling rate 45.0% 44.7% 47.7% 42.8% 54.1%
2019 Arisings 26,441 22,074 842 2,303 1,223
  Of which recycled 12,171 10,054 426 1,001 690
  Recycling rate 46.0% 45.5% 50.6% 43.5% 56.4%
2020 Arisings 27,009 22,586 860 2,335 1,228
  Of which recycled 12,008 9,935 422 956 694
  Recycling rate 44.5% 44.0% 49.1% 41.0% 56.5%
2021 Arisings 27,650 23,120 891 2,381 1,257
  Of which recycled 12,337 10,200 432 993 713
  Recycling rate 44.6% 44.1% 48.4% 41.7% 56.7%
2022 Arisings 25,691 21,466 812 2,242 1,170
  Of which recycled 11,330 9,322 400 943 666
  Recycling rate 44.1% 43.4% 49.2% 42.1% 56.9%

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 1

Figures include IBA metal.
Percentages calculated from unrounded figures; breakdowns for individual countries may not exactly sum to UK totals due to rounding.
Minor revisions have been made to the Scotland figures for 2013 and 2017 to 2021, due to historical updates for several local authorities. Revisions have been made to the 2020 England figures due to an update to historical data.

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Total UK WfH generation was 25.7 million tonnes in 2022, an decrease of 7.1% from 2021. England is responsible for the vast majority of UK WfH, generating 21.5 million tonnes (84% of the UK total) in 2022 (Table 1).

Figure 1: Recycling rate from Waste from Households, UK and country split, 2010–2022

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra Statistics

Notes - Figure 1

From 2015, these figures include IBA metal (this typically adds up to 0.9 percentage points to the overall UK recycling rate).
For Northern Ireland, figures including IBA metal are the same as those excluding IBA metals as no local authority collected municipal waste went directly to incinerators.

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Figure 1 shows that the UK WfH recycling rate (including IBA metal) was 44.1% in 2022, decreasing from 44.6% in 2021.

The recycling rate for waste from households increased in all UK countries except England in 2022. The recycling rate for England was 43.4%, 49.2% in Northern Ireland, 42.1% in Scotland, and 56.9% in Wales.

Total WfH generation in England decreased by 1.7 million tonnes (7.2%) in 2022. Residual waste decreased by 0.8 million tonnes (6%), while recycling fell by 0.9 million tonnes (8.6%) in England. Dry weather conditions, in England, affected plant growth reducing the organic contribution to recycling by 0.5 million tonnes (10.8%), while dry recycling declined by 0.4 million tonnes (7.1%). Please see our local authority collected and managed waste statistical notice for more information.

5. Biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) sent to landfill

Updated, with new figures for 2022

UK estimates for biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to landfill have been calculated using a UK wide approach in accordance with relevant legislation. Biodegradable municipal waste is the fraction of municipal waste that will decompose. Amongst other materials it will include food waste, green waste, cardboard and paper.

The UK countries have agreed a set of European Waste Catalogue (EWC) classification codes to represent ‘municipal waste’. Countries use broadly similar, but non-identical sets of factors, for the proportion of each EWC code that is biodegradable, based upon composition studies of landfill waste. See methodology section for more details.

Figure 2: Biodegradable municipal waste to landfill UK and country split, 2010–2022

Source: Waste Data Interrogator, Defra Statistics

Notes - Figure 2

Revisions have been made to the 2020 figures for England, 2019 figures for Wales and 2019 to 2021 Northern Ireland figures due to revised site return data

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Figure 2 and Table 2 show that UK biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill decreased to 6.3 million tonnes in 2022 from 6.7 million tonnes in 2021. England is responsible for 81% of UK biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, generating 5.1 million tonnes of the 6.3 million tonnes UK total in 2022.

Table 2: Biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, UK and country split, 2010–2022 (thousand tonnes)

Year Measure UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
2010 Municipal Waste to Landfill 25,019 20,298 893 2,508 1,319
  of which biodegradable 12,982 10,339 558 1,484 600
2011 Municipal Waste to Landfill 22,879 18,421 734 2,560 1,164
  of which biodegradable 11,725 9,360 464 1,364 538
2012 Municipal Waste to Landfill 20,260 16,187 622 2,429 1,023
  of which biodegradable 10,372 8,129 394 1,327 522
2013 Municipal Waste to Landfill 18,450 14,780 472 2,244 954
  of which biodegradable 9,325 7,347 299 1,182 497
2014 Municipal Waste to Landfill 17,281 13,714 511 2,194 862
  of which biodegradable 8,726 6,843 322 1,137 424
2015 Municipal Waste to Landfill 15,605 12,215 484 2,264 642
  of which biodegradable 7,693 5,980 307 1,095 311
2016 Municipal Waste to Landfill 15,837 12,381 524 2,031 900
  of which biodegradable 7,816 6,049 331 1,150 286
2017 Municipal Waste to Landfill 14,996 11,784 539 1,995 678
  of which biodegradable 7,386 5,684 302 1,090 311
2018 Municipal Waste to Landfill 14,644 11,688 545 1,837 574
  of which biodegradable 7,201 5,598 296 1,023 285
2019 Municipal Waste to Landfill 13,781 11,492 445 1,338 507
  of which biodegradable 6,626 5,418 260 699 250
2020 Municipal Waste to Landfill 12,765 10,521 430 1,363 452
  of which biodegradable 6,175 4,968 252 734 221
2021 Municipal Waste to Landfill 13,973 11,394 436 1,544 599
  of which biodegradable 6,741 5,325 266 855 296
2022 Municipal Waste to Landfill 13,146 10,967 339 1,269 571
  of which biodegradable 6,310 5,132 204 699 276

Source: Waste Data Interrogator, Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 2

Individual countries may not exactly sum to UK total due to rounding.
Revisions have been made to the 2020 figures for England, 2019 figures for Wales and 2019 to 2021 Northern Ireland figures due to revised site return data.

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The vast majority of municipal waste received at landfill is classified as “mixed” waste categories, from which it is not possible to routinely identify individual material streams, e.g. food waste, outside of separate specific commissioned research on waste composition. WRAP have published the results of a study to quantify the composition of municipal waste at the point of collection, but this does not directly relate to data on waste received at treatment sites.

Table 3: Municipal waste to landfill, by main waste types, UK and country split, 2022 (thousand tonnes)

Waste Type (EWC code) UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Wastes from mechanical treatment of waste (19 12 12) 8,861 7,945 123 356 437
Mixed municipal waste (20 03 01) 2,738 1,724 181 719 115
Other (all other EWC codes) 1,547 1,298 34 194 19
Total 13,146 10,967 339 1,269 571

Source: Waste Data Interrogator, Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 3

Individual countries may not exactly sum to UK total due to rounding.

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Table 3 shows the amount of municipal waste to landfill by main waste types for 2022. The two main municipal waste categories at landfill are ‘wastes from mechanical treatment of waste’ (EWC code 19 12 12) and ‘mixed municipal waste’ (EWC code 20 03 01), which together make up around 88% of all municipal waste received at landfill.

In 2022, 8.9 million tonnes of municipal waste sent to landfill in the UK was categorised as ‘wastes from mechanical treatment of waste’, and 2.7 million tonnes was categorised as ‘mixed municipal waste’ (Table 3). The proportions of these municipal waste categories at landfill have nearly reversed since 2010, with ‘wastes from mechanical treatment of waste’ increasing nearly every year (from 38% in 2010 to 67% in 2022) and ‘mixed municipal waste’ decreasing nearly every year (from 54% in 2010 to 21% in 2022). Data on the biodegradable portions of these waste codes can be found in the underlying dataset.

For England in 2022, EWC codes 19 12 12 and 20 03 01 together accounted for 88.2% of municipal waste received at landfill. Of the remaining 11.8%, 8.1% was accounted for by four EWC codes with tonnages between 100 and 480 thousand tonnes (20 02 02, 20 03 07, 19 05 03, 20 02 01), 3.2% by ten EWC codes with tonnages between 10 and 100 thousand tonnes and the final 0.6% by small tonnages of a further 29 EWC codes.

6. Packaging waste

Updated with new figures for 2022 and 2023

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations set material specific recycling targets and require businesses obligated under the regulations to ensure the recycling of a proportion of the packaging they generate and place on the market. UK recycling rates for packaging materials for 2022 and 2023 are calculated based on the amount of packaging reported as being recycled under the regulations in each year and the total amount of packaging materials estimated to be placed on the UK market in each year.

Table 4: Packaging waste and recycling, split by material, UK 2022 (thousand tonnes and % rate)

Material Packaging waste arising Total recycled Achieved recycling rate
Metal  774 509 65.8%
— of which: Aluminium 277 144 51.9%
— of which: Steel 497 366 73.6%
Paper and cardboard 5,365 3,695 68.9%
Glass 2,683 1,872 69.8%
Plastic 2,245 1,154 51.4%
Wood 1,511 635 42.0%
Other* materials 23 0 0.0%
Total (for recycling) 12,601 7,865 62.4%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 4

* ‘Other’ includes materials such as cloth, corks, gel, glue, hessian sacks and wax used as packaging.
Percentages calculated using unrounded figures.Numbers may not add to exact totals. This is due to rounding.
Equivalent figures for 2012–2021 can be seen in the accompanying dataset.
Arisings estimates made at point of manufacture. For further details see the methodology section.
Please note that the placed on the market data (PoM) has been updated from 2022 to take account of the data in the latest iteration of the PackFlow report commissioned by Defra.

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Table 5: Packaging waste and recycling, split by material, UK 2023 (thousand tonnes and % rate)

Material Packaging waste arising Total recycled Achieved recycling rate
Metal  774 551 71.2%
— of which: Aluminium 277 162 58.6%
— of which: Steel 497 389 78.3%
Paper and cardboard 5,422 3,980 73.4%
Glass 2,680 1,818 67.8%
Plastic 2,259 1,186 52.5%
Wood 1,504 668 44.4%
Other* materials 23 0 0.0%
Total (for recycling) 12,662 8,204 64.8%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 5

* ‘Other’ includes materials such as cloth, corks, gel, glue, hessian sacks and wax used as packaging.
Percentages calculated using unrounded figures.Numbers may not add to exact totals. This is due to rounding.
Equivalent figures for 2012–2021 can be seen in the accompanying dataset.
Arisings estimates made at point of manufacture. For further details see the methodology section.
Please note that the placed on the market data (PoM) has been updated from 2022 to take account of the data in the latest iteration of the PackFlow report commissioned by Defra.

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Table 4 and Table 5 show the amount of packaging waste and the amount recycled broken down by material type for 2022 and 2023. In 2022 and 2023, 62.4% and 64.8% of UK packaging waste was recycled respectively.

Recycling accounted for 8.2 million tonnes of the 12.7 million tonnes of packaging waste arisings in 2023. Paper and cardboard had the highest waste arisings, at 5.4 million tonnes.

The highest recycling rate achieved in 2023 was 73.4% for paper and cardboard, followed by 71.2% for metal and 67.8% for glass.

7. Recovery rate from non-hazardous construction and demolition (C&D) waste

Updated, with new England figures for 2021 and 2022

Accurately quantifying C&D waste is challenging and whilst the absolute tonnage figures are subject to a relatively high level of uncertainty, there is not a significant impact on the final recovery rate.

Table 6 and 7 show the amount of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste generated and recovered for both the UK and England

Table 6: Recovery rate from non-hazardous construction and demolition waste, UK, 2010–2020 (million tonnes and % rate)

Year Generation Recovery Recovery rate
2010 59.2 53.1 89.7%
2011 60.2 55.2 91.8%
2012 55.8 51.0 91.4%
2013 57.1 52.2 91.5%
2014 61.6 56.4 91.7%
2015 63.8 58.4 91.5%
2016 66.2 60.6 91.6%
2017 68.7 63.6 92.5%
2018 67.8 63.2 93.1%
2019 68.2 63.7 93.3%
2020 59.4 55.0 92.6%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 6

Excludes excavation waste.
Percentages calculated using unrounded figures.
For England and Wales, recovery is calculated as generation minus landfill. For Scotland and NI recovery is calculated as generation minus landfill and incineration.
The Environment Agency permit data for England for 2019 onwards includes data on extra sites which is now being captured within the methodology.
Due to a cyber-attack, C&D estimates for Scotland are not available for 2019 and 2020. To calculate a UK figure for 2019 and 2020, the 2018 data for Scotland has been used for 2019 and the 2021 Scotland figure has been used for 2020.
Revisions have been made to the construction and demolition (C&D) figures for England for 2020, due to revised site return data.

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In 2020, the UK generated 59.4 million tonnes of non-hazardous C&D waste, of which 55.0 million tonnes was recovered. This represents a recovery rate of 92.6% (Table 6).

The UK recovery rate from non-hazardous C&D waste has remained at similar levels from 2010 to 2020.

Table 7: Recovery rate from non-hazardous construction and demolition waste, England, 2010–2022 (million tonnes and % rate)

Year Generation Recovery Recovery rate
2010 53.6 49.4 92.2%
2011 54.9 50.8 92.5%
2012 50.5 46.4 92.0%
2013 51.7 47.6 92.0%
2014 55.9 51.7 92.4%
2015 57.7 53.3 92.3%
2016 59.6 55.0 92.1%
2017 62.2 57.9 93.1%
2018 61.4 57.5 93.8%
2019 62.3 58.3 93.6%
2020 53.9 50.3 93.2%
2021 61.1 57.2 93.6%
2022 63.0 59.4 94.3%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 7

The Environment Agency permit data for England for 2019 onwards includes data on extra sites which is now being captured within the methodology.
For England recovery is calculated as generation minus landfill.
Revisions have been made to the construction and demolition (C&D) figures for England for 2020, due to revised site return data.

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In 2022, England generated 63.0 million tonnes of non-hazardous C&D waste, of which 59.4 million tonnes was recovered. This represents a recovery rate of 94.3% (Table 7). The England recovery rate from non-hazardous C&D waste has remained at 92–94% from 2010 to 2022.

8. Waste from commercial and industrial (C&I) activities

Updated, with new England figures for 2022

Defra previously worked closely with industry experts to improve the C&I methodology for England (for details see Commercial and Industrial waste arisings methodology revisions for England). Nonetheless, C&I waste generation remains extremely difficult to estimate owing to data limitations and data gaps. As a result, C&I estimates for England have a much higher level of uncertainty than Waste from Households (or other Local Authority Collected Waste) and users should exercise caution in application of the figures and interpreting trends over time.

The methodology relies largely on known tonnages of waste processed at permitted sites and recycling facilities. It makes no attempt to estimate waste that may be processed at exempt sites that is not captured in the available recycling data. The term ‘commercial and industrial’ spans a range of economic activities including manufacturing, industrial processes and service-based enterprises, but excluding sewage sludge.

Estimates presented below are “as received” tonnages and do not include an additional adjustment from wet weight to dry weight for sludges.

Tables 8 and 9 show the amount of commercial and industrial waste generated in the UK and England.

Table 8: Total waste generated by the commercial and industrial sectors, UK, 2010–2020 (million tonnes)

Year Commercial Industrial Total C&I
2010 28.7 15.0 43.7
2012 25.0 17.6 42.6
2014 25.4 14.6 40.0
2016 27.5 13.5 41.0
2018 30.8 13.1 43.9
2020 28.0 12.4 40.4

Source: Defra statistics

Notes - Table 8

Due to a cyber-attack, C&I estimates for Scotland are not available for 2020. To calculate a UK figure for 2020, the 2018 data for Scotland has been used for 2020.
Revisions have been made to the commercial and industrial (C&I) figures for England for 2020 and 2021 to correct an error in the calculations.

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The UK C&I sectors generated 40.4 million tonnes of waste in 2020 (Table 8), of which 33.7 million tonnes (around 83%) was produced in England. By comparison, the 2018 UK C&I waste arisings figure was 43.9 million tonnes, of which 37.2 million tonnes was generated by England. Over two thirds of C&I waste is generated by the commercial sector, in both the UK and England.

Table 9: Total waste generated by the commercial and industrial sectors, England, 2010–2022 (million tonnes)

Year Commercial Industrial Total C&I
2010 21.6 10.4 32.0
2011 21.4 12.0 33.4
2012 21.0 12.9 33.9
2013 20.8 12.0 32.8
2014 21.3 10.4 31.7
2015 22.5 9.4 31.9
2016 23.6 9.5 33.1
2017 25.8 10.3 36.1
2018 27.1 10.1 37.2
2019 26.6 10.6 37.2
2020 24.3 9.4 33.7
2021 24.6 9.2 33.8
2022 24.1 9.5 33.6

Source: Defra statistics

Notes - Table 9

Revisions have been made to the commercial and industrial (C&I) figures for England for 2020 and 2021 to correct an error in the calculations.

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The latest estimates for England only, indicate that waste generation was around 33.6 million tonnes in 2022, a decrease since 2021 (Table 9). Caution should generally be exercised in interpreting apparent year-on-year changes in the C&I data, owing to inherent uncertainties in the underlying data and methodology.

9. Total Waste Generation and Final Treatment of All Waste

Updated, with new UK figures for 2020 UK and new England figures for 2022

After reviewing the feedback received, around the total waste generated and treated estimates, we have decided to continue to produce them in their current format.

There are some differences between the C&I figures presented here, and those shown in the C&I section of this release (Section 8). For the purposes of the calculated total waste figures, sewage sludge is included in the C&I estimates. For the total waste generated and treated figures sludges are converted from wet to dry weight, The UK 2020 figure for C&I that is incorporated in Table 10 (39.3 million tonnes) does not differ greatly from that published in Table 8 on an ‘as received’ basis but excluding sewage sludge (40.4 million tonnes). Minor additional revisions are detailed in the methodology section.

Total waste generation is split by material and the Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE) economic activity responsible for generating it. Users should be aware that ‘total waste’ includes all waste produced by the economy and is therefore much broader than frequently analysed subsets such as ‘municipal waste’ or ‘Waste from Households’. Users should also consider the varying natures and impacts of different waste materials included within total waste.

For the waste generation figures for England, the co-mingled recyclates collected exclusively from households have been separated into the individual materials using proportions derived from composition waste studies carried out by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme).

9.1 Waste Generation

Total waste generated figures are presented below for the UK and England for 2020 and for England only for 2022. The 2020 data have likely been impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Figure 3: Waste generation split by source, UK, 2020

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Figure 3

Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to rounding.
‘Other’ consists of waste from mining, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
C&I figures presented here differ from those in the C&I section in that they include sewage sludge. However, for these figures, sludges are converted to dry weight, the C&I figures do not differ greatly from those presented in the C&I section.
C,D&E figures include excavation waste and dredging.
Household figures are based on the WfH measure.

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Figure 3 shows the amount of waste generated split by source. Construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E; including dredging) generated around three fifths (61%) of total UK waste in 2020. Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste accounted for around a fifth (21%) of total waste generation and the remaining fifth was split between ‘Households’ (14%) and ‘Other’ activities (4%). In England, the share of CD&E was higher at 63% of the total; ‘Households,’ C&I and the ‘Other’ contributions were similar to the UK.

Note: The ‘Households’ measure quoted here is the WfH measure, with mapping between the WasteDataFlow and EWC-STAT material categories.

Table 10: Waste generation split by responsible economic activity, UK, 2018-20 (million tonnes)

Year Commercial & industrial Construction, demolition & excavation (includes dredging) Households Other Total
2018 42.6 137.8 26.4 15.4 222.2
2020 39.3 117.5 27.0 7.5 191.2
Change -7.8% -14.8% 2.3% -51.4% -13.9%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 10

Includes waste that may go for export, but excludes waste imported from outside the UK.
‘Other’ consists of waste from mining, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Percentages calculated from unrounded figures; breakdowns may not exactly sum to totals due to rounding.

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Table 10 shows that the UK generated 191.2 million tonnes of total waste in 2020, a decrease of 13.9% from the 222.2 million tonnes generated in 2018. England generated 162.8 million tonnes of total waste in 2020 (Table 11), 85% of the UK total.

Table 11: Waste generation split by responsible economic activity, England, 2018-22 (million tonnes)

Year Commercial & industrial Construction, demolition & excavation (includes dredging) Households Other Total
2018 36.1 119.4 22.0 9.7 187.3
2020 32.8 102.6 22.6 4.9 162.8
2022 32.6 132.1 21.5 5.2 191.4
Change (2020 to 2022) -0.5% 28.8% -5.0% 6.2% 17.6%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 11

Includes waste that may go for export, but excludes waste imported from outside the UK.
‘Other’ consists of waste from mining, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Percentages calculated from unrounded figures; breakdowns may not exactly sum to totals due to rounding.

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Note: Figure 4 below splits all waste generated in the UK by waste materials, which are categorised by European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes. Care should be taken when interpreting this information as some categories, e.g. ‘Household & similar wastes’ will include mixtures of waste. As a result, an individual material stream such as ‘Plastic wastes’ will not represent total tonnages of plastic waste, because there will also be some in mixed waste streams (e.g. black bag waste) that are categorised as ‘Household and similar wastes’.

Figure 4: Waste generation by waste material, UK, 2020

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Figure 4

Includes waste that may go on to be exported, but excludes waste imported from outside the UK.
Any type of waste can be generated by any economic activity. E.g. ‘Household & similar wastes’ are not solely generated by ‘Households’.
Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to rounding.
A more detailed material split is available in the accompanying dataset.

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Figure 4 shows the amount of waste generated split by material type. The largest waste material categories generated in the UK in 2020 were ‘Mineral Wastes’ (64 million tonnes), and ‘Soils’ (53 million tonnes). Together, these make up 61% of total UK waste.

9.2 Waste Treatment

Total waste treated figures are presented below for the UK and England for 2020 and for England only for 2022. The 2020 data have likely been impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Table 12: All waste at final treatment, split by method, UK, 2018-20 (million tonnes and % change)

Method 2018 2020 Change
Recycling and other recovery 108.4 97.3 -10.3%
Incineration with energy recovery (R1)* 8.5 9.7 14.7%
Incineration (excl. R1) 7.3 9.2 26.7%
Backfilling 14.2 12.8 -9.4%
Landfill 50.8 45.0 -11.4%
Land treatment and release into water bodies 25.7 11.7 -54.4%
Total 214.8 185.8 -13.5%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 12

* where formal R1 accreditation has been awarded
Includes waste that may have been imported, but excludes waste exported for treatment outside the UK.
Around two thirds of ‘Recycling and other recovery’ is recovery of C,D&E wastes. The remainder is predominantly recycling (dry recyclates and composting) but also includes some non-recycling activities, e.g. wood used for biomass.
See methodology section for more details on the treatment categories.
Percentages calculated from unrounded figures; Breakdowns may not exactly sum to totals due to rounding.

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Table 12 shows that ‘Recycling and other recovery’ was the most common final waste treatment type in the UK, accounting for 97.3 million tonnes (52.3%) in 2020. Around two thirds of ‘Recycling and other recovery’ is recovery of mineral wastes and soils from the construction, demolition and excavation sector. The remainder is predominantly recycling (glass, plastic, metal, wood, composting etc.) but also includes some non-recycling activities that are not captured elsewhere, e.g. wood used for biomass. Landfill is the second most used waste treatment in the UK, with 24.2% (45 million tonnes) of waste disposed of at landfill in 2020.

Energy recovery at facilities with R1 accreditation, in the UK, increased to 9.7 million tonnes in 2020 from 8.5 million tonnes in 2018.

Table 13 shows the total amount of waste at final treatment for England split by method.

Table 13: All waste at final treatment, split by method, England, 2018-22 (million tonnes and % change)

Method 2018 2020 2022 Change (2020 to 2022)
Recycling and other recovery 96.5 88.0 98.8 12.2%
Incineration with energy recovery (R1)* 7.4 8.3 8.4 1.3%
Incineration (excl. R1) 7.0 8.0 8.7 8.9%
Backfilling 11.1 9.6 11.2 15.8%
Landfill 44.1 40.0 41.3 3.1%
Land treatment and release into water bodies 16.8 7.6 24.8 227.9%
Total 182.8 161.6 193.2 19.5%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 13

* where formal R1 accreditation has been awarded
Includes waste that may have been imported, but excludes waste exported for treatment outside the UK.
See methodology section for more details on the treatment categories.
Percentages calculated from unrounded figures; Breakdowns may not exactly sum to totals due to rounding.

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Table 14: Material breakdown for each final treatment method, UK, 2020 (proportion of tonnages)

Material Recycling and other recovery Incineration with energy recovery (R1)* Incineration (excl. R1) Backfilling Landfill Land treatment and release into water bodies
Dredging spoils 0% 0% 0% 1% 1% 44%
Glass wastes 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Household & similar wastes 3% 6% 14% 0% 7% 0%
Metallic wastes 15% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Mineral wastes 53% 0% 0% 9% 5% 56%
Other wastes 6% 87% 62% 3% 29% 0%
Paper & cardboard wastes 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Plastic wastes 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Soils 12% 0% 0% 86% 57% 0%
Vegetal wastes 4% 0% 2% 0% 0% 0%
Wood wastes 3% 7% 21% 1% 0% 0%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes -Table 14

* where formal R1 accreditation has been awarded
Includes waste that may have been imported, but excludes waste exported for treatment outside the UK.
‘Recycling and other recovery’ is predominantly recycling (glass, plastic, metal, wood, composting etc.) but also includes some non-recycling activities that are not captured elsewhere, e.g. wood used for biomass.
‘Other wastes’ include residues following physical treatment and incineration of waste, residues from industrial processes and sewage. It also includes sorting residues and health care and biological wastes.

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Table 14 shows the material breakdown for each final treatment method in the UK in 2020. More than half (53%) of waste recorded as ‘recycling and other recovery’ is ‘mineral wastes’, while a further 12% is ‘soils’. The ‘mineral wastes’ category is typically construction wastes such as bricks, stone and road planings that are converted into usable aggregates. ‘Metallic wastes’ is the second biggest material group at 15%, partially a reflection of their high value. The remaining tonnage going to ‘recycling and other recovery’ consists of a variety of material types that each make a small contribution.

The majority (87%) of waste treated at energy recovery facilities is ‘Other wastes’, which includes residues following physical treatment and incineration of waste, residues from industrial processes and sewage. It also includes sorting residues and health care and biological wastes.

The vast majority (86%) of ‘Backfilling’ is ‘soils’, with ‘mineral wastes’ being the next biggest contributor at 9%.

‘Soils’ make up 57% and ‘mineral wastes’ 5% of the tonnage received by landfills, demonstrating that it is not just residual waste using this outlet. The two other main components of landfilled waste are ‘household & similar wastes’ (7% of the total) and ‘other wastes’ (29%). The ‘other wastes’ category includes ‘sorting residues’ which will typically be mixed wastes following processing to remove recyclates.

A more detailed material split along with 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, 2018 data and England only figures (including 2022) are available in the accompanying dataset.

Note: Generation and final treatment are at opposite ends of what can be a complex and multiple staged treatment process. Different methodology is used to estimate generation and final treatment figures. Furthermore, final treatment excludes some treatment processes identified as predominantly intermediate, which nevertheless may effectively be the final treatment for some waste. As a result, there is no direct reconciliation between generation and final treatment of total waste. Users should also be aware that in most cases it is not possible to estimate the final treatment of waste generated by specific economic activities. Users should take care to understand the material and economic activity categories. Further information is available in the methodology and Useful Links sections.

10. Waste Infrastructure

Updated, with new figures for England for 2022

Defra collates summaries from the environment agencies of all four UK countries on facilities authorised by mandatory permit or license. Capacity is based on the level authorised by permit or license with the exception of some small-scale incinerators where the permit did not feature capacity. In these cases, operational capacity is used. Please see the methodology section for more detail.

Table 15: Number and capacity of permitted final treatment facilities, UK, 2018–2020

Facility type Measure 2018 2020
Recovery other than energy recovery (includes backfilling) Number of facilities 3,536 3,279
Energy recovery (R1) Number of facilities 41 43
  Capacity (thousand tonnes/yr) 11,626 12,128
Incineration (excl. R1) Number of facilities 97 100
  Capacity (thousand tonnes/yr) 11,921 14,499
Deposit onto or into land (landfill) Number of facilities 630 621
  Rest (remaining) capacity (thousand m3) 443,880 427,206

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 15

Energy recovery refers to facilities where the main purpose is generation of energy and formal R1 accreditation has been awarded.
Excludes: Recovery facilities operating solely under a waste exemption; facilities permitted only for intermediate treatment (including most anaerobic digesters); facilities that were formally closed throughout 2020 (except landfills).

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Table 15 shows the number and capacity of permitted final treatment facilities in the UK for 2018 and 2020. From 2018 to 2020, energy recovery facilities with R1 accreditation in the UK increased in number from 41 to 43, with capacity increasing from 11.6 million tonnes to 12.1 million tonnes per year.

Table 16 shows the number and capacity of permitted final treatment facilities in England for 2020 and 2022. From 2020 to 2022, energy recovery facilities with R1 accreditation in England decreased in number from 29 to 28.

Table 16: Number and capacity of permitted final treatment facilities, England, 2018–22

Facility type Measure 2018 2020 2022
Recovery other than energy recovery (includes backfilling) Number of facilities 1,857 1,726 1,640
Energy recovery (R1) Number of facilities 25 29 28
  Capacity (thousand tonnes/yr) 8,449 8,974 8,968
Incineration (excl. R1) Number of facilities 72 77 75
  Capacity (thousand tonnes/yr) 10,995 12,917 12,490
Deposit onto or into land (landfill) Number of facilities 534 534 533
  Rest (remaining) capacity (thousand m3) 404,569 388,367 345,742

Source: Defra Statistics

Notes - Table 16

Energy recovery refers to facilities where the main purpose is generation of energy and formal R1 accreditation has been awarded.
Excludes: Recovery facilities operating solely under a waste exemption; facilities permitted only for intermediate treatment (including most anaerobic digesters); facilities that were formally closed throughout 2022 (except landfills).

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11. What you need to know about this release

11.1 Contact details

Responsible statisticians: Katherine Merrett and Adele Storr

Email: [email protected]

Media enquiries: 0330 041 6560 (Defra Press Office) or refer to Defra’s media enquiries page.

11.2 Official Statistics

This is an Official Statistics publication. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You can read about how Official Statistics in Defra comply with these standards on the Defra Statistics website.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards using the contact details above. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing [email protected] or via the OSR website.

12. About these statistics

12.1 User statement

Data on waste generation and management is collected to monitor policy effectiveness and to support policy development. The data are used extensively by local and central government, the waste industry, academia and the public.

12.2 Feedback

We welcome feedback on the data from all users including how and why the data is used. This helps us to understand the value of the statistics to external users. Please see our contact details section of this notice.

12.3 Methodology

Waste from Households (WfH)

WfH is the agreed harmonised UK measure used to report household recycling. Waste management and recycling is a devolved matter and different countries have used their own data to adopt the definition.

WfH includes waste from:

  • Regular household collection
  • Civic amenity sites
  • ‘Bulky waste’
  • ‘Other household waste’.

WfH excludes waste from:

  • Street cleaning/sweeping
  • Gully emptying
  • Separately collected healthcare waste
  • Soil, Rubble, Plasterboard & Asbestos waste

All UK countries base the WfH measure on output from the WasteDataFlow database, which records Local Authority Collected Waste. Whilst the general approach and principles of the calculation is consistent across UK countries, there may be some differences in the specifics of the calculations as there are some differences in the structure and wording of some of the questions.

Users should be aware that individual UK countries other than England publish their own independent national household recycling estimates other than WfH recycling. Local Authorities in England may also use an alternative measure.

A change was introduced from the February 2018 release to include metal recovered and recycled after incineration as recycling, instead of being reported as ‘recovery’. The amount this contributes to recycling depends on the amount of the residual waste being incinerated and the metal content of the residual waste.

Inclusion of IBA metal has been facilitated through the new Q100 reporting structure for waste treatment which all local authorities have been using since April 2015. This has provided the opportunity for more complete recording of waste treatment, including outputs from incineration. The majority of local authorities are reporting more fully, but not in all cases. While reporting and associated quality assurance are developing and being refined, the figures need to be regarded as more indicative until it becomes fully established and embedded.

This methodological change for IBA metal has been applied to all UK countries from 2015. England data only includes IBA metal from April 2015, when Q100 came into full use by all local authorities. For Wales, Q100 was introduced in 2012 and IBA metals have been included from 2015 in line with the other UK countries. Northern Ireland did not have any incinerators that burnt local authority collected municipal waste in these years and so their figures are unaffected by the change.

At an overall UK level this change in methodology raised the recycling rate for 2022 by around 0.9 percentage points (equivalent to 240 thousand tonnes).

In the March 2020 release, minor revisions were made to the Scotland 2017 Recycling rate for Waste from Households (WfH), due to routine revision of site returns provided by operators. Wales made minor revisions to WfH recycling figures for 2013-2017, reflecting an amendment to their calculation methodology. These changes for Wales have been made to improve the accuracy of the identification of recycling rejects for use in their calculations and to improve consistency with other current and future reporting requirements.

In the May 2022 release, minor revisions were made to the Scotland 2019 recycling rate for Waste from Households (WfH).

In this September 2024 release, minor revisions were made to the Scotland Waste from Households data for 2013 and 2017 to 2021, due to historical data updates for several local authorities. Revisions have been made to the 2020 England figures due to an update to historical data.

Biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to landfill

UK estimates for biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to landfill have been calculated using a UK wide approach in accordance with relevant legislation. Biodegradable municipal waste is the fraction of municipal waste that will degrade within a landfill site. Amongst other materials it will include food waste, green waste, cardboard and paper.

Tonnage data is collated from mandatory returns made for landfills to the Environment Agencies of each of the four UK countries. Tonnages are split by European Waste Catalogue (EWC) categorisation codes, as determined by landfill operators. For this reporting obligation, the UK countries have agreed a set of EWC codes to represent ‘municipal waste’. Scotland applies a factor to EWC code 19 12 12 on the basis that only a proportion is ‘municipal’, however other countries do not do this. Scotland include some additional EWC codes.

Factors on the proportion of waste that is biodegradable are applied to each code. Countries use broadly similar, but non-identical sets of factors.

The factors are multiplied by the tonnages and then summed to give final country level estimates for BMW to landfill. New factors were adopted by England in 2014 for the two EWC codes that dominate Municipal Waste, based upon a commissioned study of landfill waste composition. All England figures published here have been produced using these new factors. Wales adopted these new factors from 2013 and backdated their estimates for 2010-2012.

Details of the waste codes considered to municipal and the associated biodegradability factors can be found in the biodegradable municipal waste to landfill methodology note.

In the March 2020 release, minor revisions were made to the Scotland 2017 Biodegradable Municipal Waste to Landfill figures, due to routine revision of site returns provided by operators. Scotland also made minor amendments to one of the waste codes (19 12 12) for their 2011-2017 Municipal Waste to Landfill figures, to correct an error in the apportionment between municipal and non-municipal waste.

In the June 2023 release, minor revisions were made to the Scotland 2016 and 2020 Biodegradable Municipal Waste to Landfill figures, due to routine revision of site returns provided by operators and revised estimations of the amount of EWC coded 19 12 12 waste that is of municipal origin.

In this September 2024 release, revisions have been made to the 2020 figures for England, 2019 figures for Wales and 2019 to 2021 Northern Ireland figures, due to revised site return data.

Packaging waste

UK calculations for recycling of packaging waste are made at a UK level. Estimates of packaging waste arisings (’placed on the market) have been updated from a baseline of 2022 to take account of the data in the latest iteration of the PackFlow report commissioned by Defra. The arisings figures for all years exclude exports but include filled and unfilled imports. Because these estimates are recorded at point of manufacture, materials are all separately identifiable and therefore may appear large in comparison to material type estimates based on collected waste, where a substantial proportion of packaging waste will be captured under mixed waste categories.

Estimates of Tonnages recycled in each year are based on Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Export Recovery Notes (PERNs) reported to the Environment Agency relevant regulator and held in the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD). Obligated producers, or Compliance schemes on their behalf, acquire PRNs and PERNs from accredited reprocessors and exporters. All packaging producers that have a turnover of at least £2m and handle at least 50 tonnes of packaging per year are required to obtain sufficient PRNs/PERNs to evidence that they meet their individual recycling obligations. The recycling / recovery targets on producers are set by Government and prior to the UK leaving the European Union are set to ensure that Northern Ireland continues to comply with the aggregated obligation for all producers was sufficient to ensure the UK met the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive targets as required by the Windsor Framework.

Recovery rate from non-hazardous construction and demolition (C&D) waste

Accurately quantifying C&D waste is challenging and whilst the absolute tonnage figures are subject to a relatively high level of uncertainty, sensitivity analysis suggests there is not a significant impact on the final recovery rate. Whilst efforts were made to synchronise approaches across UK countries, methodologies are not identical. The England methodology was originally devised in conjunction with industry. Estimates are dependent on several key assumptions relating to the role of permitted sites, simple registrations and the volume of aggregate production (this data is provided by the Mineral Products Association). Within the UK, some C&D waste is transferred across borders for treatment, primarily into England. This may slightly inflate the England recovery rate and deflate rates for Devolved Administrations.

Due to a cyber-attack, C&D estimates for Scotland are not available for 2019 and 2020. To calculate a UK figure for 2019 and 2020, the 2018 data for Scotland has been used for 2019 and the 2021 Scotland figure has been used for 2020.

In the February 2019 release, revisions were made to the full time-series for the recovery rate from non-hazardous C&D waste. This was due to updates made to the underlying Mineral Products Association data, following revisions to the ONS construction industry growth index on which their estimates are based. The revisions resulted in increases of 10-20% in absolute tonnages for all years, in comparison to the previously published figures. However, as the scale of change was similar for both generation and recovery, this had little impact on the recovery rate, which remains around 90% throughout the time-series.

In the July 2021 release, minor revisions were made to the C&D figures for the UK for 2015 - 2016, due to revised figures from Scotland. The revised data for Scotland takes account of routine revisions of site returns provided by operators and the methodology to estimate C&D metal wastes generated has also been refined.

In the June 2023 release, revisions were made to the C&D figures for the UK for 2011 to 2018, due to revised figures from Scotland. Scotland have revised their methodology for calculation of the C&D recovery rates. Further information on the methodology can be found in section 2.2 of the waste quality report published by SEPA.

In this September 2024 release, revisions have been made to the construction and demolition (C&D) figures for England for 2020, due to revised site return data. This change also impacts on the UK C&D figures for 2020.

Waste from commercial and industrial (C&I) activities

Data sources and detailed approaches may differ slightly between UK countries, but overarching principles will be consistent.

For the purpose of this statistics release, C&I is defined as a specific collection of economic activities described by NACE (“statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community”). Those considered to be C&I here are (for details see the Europa List of NACE Codes):

  • C-Manufacturing
  • D-Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply,
  • E36, E37 & E39-Water collection, treatment and supply, sewerage, remediation activities and other waste management services (excluding sewage sludge)
  • G-U excluding G4677-Services (except wholesale of waste and scrap)

While considerable effort has been spent reviewing the methodology for England, this remains a very challenging area. Data revisions published in December 2016 identified outstanding issues with the original ‘Reconcile’ methodology. Defra took this opportunity to develop a further modified version alongside industry experts, which was felt to improve the transparency of the methodology and better reflect current waste management processes. Previously published estimates for 2010 and 2012-2014 for England have been substantially revised and England estimates for 2011 and 2015-2017 have been produced using the same methodology. The latest methodology has been developed with considerable input from industry experts and sense-checked against alternative data sources. As the historical data has been revised using the same methodology, some conclusions can be drawn from changes between years; however caution should still be exercised. Full details of the current methodology are available in the Commercial and Industrial waste arisings methodology revisions for England report.

Due to a cyber-attack, C&I estimates for Scotland are not available for 2020. To calculate a UK figure for 2020, the 2018 data for Scotland has been used for 2020.

In the March 2020 release, the 2017 Commercial & Industrial (C&I) waste arisings estimate for England has been revised to correct an error in Defra calculations to estimate the proportion of incinerated waste that was attributable to C&I. This correction has resulted in a decrease in the England 2017 C&I estimate of around 1.8 million tonnes (5%).

In the July 2021 release, the 2016 Commercial & Industrial (C&I) waste arisings estimate for the UK has been revised to correct an error whereby the wet-to-dry weight factors had not been applied correctly to the NI data. This correction has resulted in a decrease in the UK 2016 C&I estimate of around 120 thousand tonnes.

In the June 2023 release, there has been a minor update to the England industrial figures for 2019 and 2020 to correct a rounding error.

In this September 2024 release, revisions have been made to the commercial and industrial (C&I) figures for England for 2020 and 2021 to correct an error in the calculations. This change also impacts on the UK C&I figure for 2020.

Total waste generation and final treatment of total waste

Total waste generated and treated figures were originally calculated in accordance with the EC Waste Statistics Regulation.

The UK estimates for generation and final treatment of total waste are built up from a large number of estimation processes and draw upon data from WasteDataFlow, Environment Agency (EA) permitted site returns and many other sources. Whilst efforts are made to synchronise approaches across UK countries, methodological differences do exist for construction, demolition & excavation (CD&E) and C&I waste. All sludges and dredging spoils have been reported dry weight (requiring conversion in some cases). The estimates are primarily designed for reporting at a UK level rather than comparison between UK countries.

The CD&E figures include excavation waste and dredging spoils that are out of scope for the recovery rate shown in Section 3 of this release. ‘Household’ figures are based on the same WfH measure shown in Section 1, with slight adjustments made in order to map to the EWC-STAT material categories. Where specific materials (such as glass and plastic) are reported, they represent separately identifiable materials. Residual waste categories will also include some of these materials in a less usable form. Estimates for tonnages received by landfill here are based on EA permitted site returns and differ from estimates published in HMRC Landfill Tax Bulletins which are sourced from landfill tax receipts.

Treatment categories[footnote 1] are:

  • Recovery means ‘any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function.’

  • Recycling is a subset of recovery and means ‘any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material (e.g. composting, anaerobic digestion etc.) but excludes the use as fuels and the use for backfilling operations.’

  • Energy recovery refers to facilities where the main purpose is generation of energy, and formal R1 accreditation has been awarded. Only a subset of these are dedicated to the processing of ‘municipal waste’. Facilities without formal R1 accreditation are reported as ‘Incineration’ rather than ‘Energy Recovery’ even if they produce some energy.

  • Backfilling means ‘a recovery operation where waste is used in excavated areas (such as underground mines, gravel pits) for the purpose of slope reclamation or safety or for engineering purposes in landscaping and where the waste is substituting other non-waste materials which would have had to be used for the purpose.’

  • Disposal means ‘any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy’ (e.g. landfill, incineration).

Waste generation and treatment are estimated by separate processes and use multiple different data sources which are based largely on administrative data sources. Elements of the calculations will use assumptions where there are data gaps so the figures for generation and treatment will not exactly correlate.

Both generation and final treatment of waste can also be split into hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. The full data covering 2010-2022 for England and 2010-2020 for the UK, can be found in the accompanying dataset.

Due to a cyber-attack, not all data is available for 2020 for Scotland. The 2018 total waste generated and treated for Scotland has been used for 2020 in most cases. Data for 2020 has been used for the following:

  • Waste generation: waste from households, dredging, mining and sewage.
  • Waste treatment: amount of waste incinerated, amount of waste landfilled, and the amount of dredging and mining waste treated.

For 2020, no updated C&I waste survey data was available for Wales. Wales did not re-gross their C&I survey estimates for 2020 given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic on waste arisings. Therefore the 2018 waste generated data for C&I has been used for 2020 for Wales.

In the February 2019 release, some double-counting of end-of-life vehicles was corrected in historical figures for Scotland and Wales. In the March 2020 update, revisions were made to the 2010 mining waste figures for all UK countries, in line with previous corrections to the slate waste factor. Additional minor revisions were made to data for 2012 and 2014, to correct some double-counting in the previously reported data for Wales.

In the July 2021 release, various revisions were made to the historical data, as a result of minor issues identified while compiling the 2018 data:

  • Revisions were made to the 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 mining waste figures for all UK countries to reflect updated data. As an example, this reduced the UK mining figures in 2016 by 2.3 million tonnes.
  • Revisions were made to the 2016 waste generation and treatment data for NI to correct an error whereby the wet-to-dry weight factors had not been applied correctly
  • For the 2018 waste generation figures for England, the co-mingled recyclates (recorded as ‘Mixed and undifferentiated’) collected exclusively from households have been separated into the individual materials using proportions derived from composition waste studies carried out by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). We have made revisions to the 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 waste generation data, for England, to separate out the co-mingled waste into individual waste types.

Waste Infrastructure

The waste infrastructure figures were originally calculated in accordance with the EC Waste Statistics Regulation. Information on infrastructure is based on mandatory reporting of permitted and licensed sites for waste treatment which is collated by the environment agencies in each of the countries in the UK. Categories are defined according to EC guidance. The ‘Energy Recovery’ category only includes facilities where the primary function is generating energy (e.g. cement kilns) and Municipal Waste Incinerators that have applied for and been granted formal R1 accreditation (an EC standard on efficiency factors) by the relevant Environment Agency. Small scale ‘LAPPC’ (Local Authority Pollution Prevention and Control) incinerators in England have not been included as sufficiently detailed data is not available.

The data excludes facilities that were formally closed throughout 2020 (except landfills) but may include facilities which despite being permitted were non-operational in 2020. Facilities permitted only for treatment operations that are identified as intermediate (which includes most anaerobic digesters) are excluded.

Recovery operations covered by simple exemptions or simple registrations are not included. These operations are classed as low risk or low volume and operators do not have to report activity to Environment Agencies. The permitted capacity of Energy Recovery and Incineration facilities includes municipal and C&I waste and will be higher than the actual volume of waste treated.

In the June 2023 release there have been minor updates to the number of landfills, energy recovery and incineration sites and their associated capacities for the UK in 2018, due to revised data from Scotland.

12.4 Revisions policy

Defra will provide information about any revisions made to published information in this statistics release and the associated datasets. Revisions could occur for various reasons, including when data from third parties is unavailable or provisional at the time of publishing or if there are subsequent methodological improvements or refinements.

  1. Further detail on Treatment categories can be found in the Manual on Waste Statistics ↩

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