Waste - Outlook 2020 (United Kingdom)

Significant progress has been made in diverting waste from landfill, increasing recycling rates and reducing GHG emissions from the waste management sector, suggesting that short term national targets will be met or exceeded. In the longer term, household waste projections forecast an increase in household waste generation.

Municipal waste:

Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) sent to landfill:

Targets outlined in the Landfill Directive state that total BMW sent to landfill must be reduced by (per cent of 1995 levels) 75 per cent for 2010, 50 per cent for 2013 and 35 per cent for 2020. The UK is currently on course to meet the 2010 target.

Household waste:

Recycling:

One of the targets in the Revised Waste Framework Directive is to increase the recycling, composting and reuse of household waste, as a percentage of total household waste, to 50 per cent by 2020. The current household recycling rate in England is 39.3 per cent for the period January 2009 to December 2009, an increase from 11.2 per cent in 2000/01. Major improvements have also been made elsewhere in the UK but as a whole, the UK is still behind many other European countries.

For more data on household waste, select a country from the below:

England                          Wales                              Scotland                              Northern Ireland

Greenhouse gas emissions:

The Government has set legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels) by approximately 34 per cent by 2020 and by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Emissions from the waste management sector have fallen by 57 per cent since 1990, as measured by the UK greenhouse gas inventory. It is possible that further reductions will bring the total decrease in waste GHG emissions to 62 per cent since 1990. This is almost double the 34 per cent reduction target sought across all sectors of the UK economy.