75 per cent of Welsh residual business waste is recyclable, says WRAP

28th January 2020 | Recycling

A new report from Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Cymru has found that 75 per cent of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste sent to incineration or landfill in Wales is recyclable. Assessing the composition of mixed residual C&I waste, the survey analysed 108 samples of waste from four main sites – Pwllfawatkin landfill, Swansea Baling Plant, Cardiff Energy Recovery Facility and Bessemer Close waste transfer station – in order to provide the Welsh Government with up-to-date data, with the most recent study of this type published in 2007.

Overall, the report estimated that 604,623 tonnes of C&I waste is currently generated in Wales per annum – down by more than 80,000 tonnes from the 686,000 tonnes generated in 2007. The report found that paper and board was the most common material in the C&I waste analysed, accounting for 25.7 per cent, whilst a further 22.7 per cent of the waste was plastics and 17.9 per cent organic material.

Residual business waste

Compared to 2007, the proportion of plastics and organic matter has increased by 7.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively, whilst the amount of paper and board in the C&I waste had decreased by 6.6 per cent. The proportion of material that could have been recycled or composted has decreased by only two per cent in 12 years, falling from 77 per cent in 2007 to 75 per cent in 2019.

Out of the 452, 258 tonnes of materials that could be diverted from the residual waste stream, edible food waste was the most prevalent, with an estimated 68,679 tonnes arising per annum. The report does acknowledge, however, that this data should be treated with caution, as half of the industrial wate sample originated from food production facilities, which could have overestimated the proportion of food waste.

More information available on the website below

https://resource.co/article/75-cent-welsh-residual-business-waste-recyclable-says-wrap