Delivering nationwide composition analysis to drive waste reduction in Wales
To understand how to solve the issues created by waste, first you need to understand what’s in the waste we throw away. To gain a clearer picture of the makeup of municipal waste and litter and inform the development of future waste reduction initiatives, WRAP Cymru commissioned the Resource Futures team to produce a national waste compositional analysis of municipal waste in Wales.
The study focused on analysing local authority-collected municipal solid waste with the aim of establishing a robust evidence base that could inform Welsh Government strategy and policy on the circular economy and recycling over the next decade. The analysis methodology used a comparable but expanded approach from that used during a previous study carried out by Resource Futures in 2015.
This research is the largest and most comprehensive national waste composition analysis undertaken in the UK to date. The analysis covered 11 waste streams over two seasons (summer and winter 2022) and across all 22 local authorities in Wales. Over 2,000 person-days of fieldwork were completed by Resource Futures’ experienced in-house sorting teams with a total of 177 tonnes of waste being sorted into 73 categories.
Objectives
This work aimed to deliver an accurate estimate of the overall composition of municipal solid waste using representative waste compositional data collected across Wales, as well as annually reported waste and recycling data on the makeup and quantities of municipal waste.
This robust evidence base provides valuable information to local authorities and Welsh Government to help them better understand the current arisings and composition of local authority-collected municipal waste. This provides an essential and empirically derived data set for modelling to support the development of future targets, policy development, and strategy across Wales for the next decade.
Approach
The fieldwork conducted involved an extensive programme of physical waste compositional analysis of the following streams:
- Kerbside-collected residual waste
- Kerbside-collected food waste
- Kerbside-collected co-mingled recycling
- Separately collected kerbside recycling (Welsh Blueprint)
- Residual waste collected at household recycling centres
- Recycling waste collected at household recycling centres
- Residual waste collected from businesses by the local authorities
- Recycling and food waste collected from businesses by the local authorities
- Bulky waste collected from the kerbside
During the kerbside fieldwork, waste was directly collected and analysed from 4,620 households in each season.
Outcomes
The resulting composition data, along with annual authority reported returns (WasteDataFlow) for 2021-22, were used to estimate the overall composition of municipal solid waste in Wales.
The analysis showed that, out of the 1.51 million tonnes of municipal solid waste collected in 2021-22, 882,000 tonnes were collected for recycling either on the kerbside or via other types of collection – an improvement on the amount collected since the previous analysis in 2015.
However, a significant amount of recyclable material was still present within the residual municipal waste stream. On average 36.5% of this material could have been recycled. Food waste was the main target material present, with an estimated arising of just over 270,000 tonnes in 2021-22.
The research showed that the majority of the food waste produced within municipal solid waste in Wales was recycled (53%), and the kerbside food waste capture rate had improved from 47% in 2015 to 56% in 2022.
The most widely recycled dry recycling materials (such as plastic bottles and drink cans) were not as abundant within the residual waste streams and achieved good capture. The overall kerbside dry recycling capture rate was shown to have improved from 72% in 2015 to 84% in 2022.
Impact
At a national level, the data collected established an updated baseline to support the Welsh Government in policy making, strategy, and targets for recycling and the circular economy in Wales. The data also provides food for thought for private sector entities around future infrastructure needs – especially around how to achieve increased recycling across a greater range of materials and minimising what is sent to landfill or energy from waste (EfW).
The findings from this study are being used by local authorities in planning an evolution to their waste collections and the impact of incoming waste policies including the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR).
“We are really pleased with the outcome of the all-Wales compositional analysis, it provides a wealth of up to date and representative composition data for a range of municipal waste streams for all local authorities in Wales.
Resource Futures’ experience in carrying out composition studies at this scale and their dedicated team enabled them to gather granular and robust new data. Their highly organised and methodical approach from inception to close out successfully fulfilled our original objectives.”
Emma Hallett, Programme Lead (Resource Management Policy) at WRAP Cymru
