Waste success for every Welsh council

Posted on: September 2, 2011

All Wales’ 22 local authorities have cause for celebration after meeting tough waste targets for 2010-2011. The Landfill Allowances Scheme report, released today by Environment Agency Wales, shows that every council met its target for diverting biodegradable waste (such as food waste) from landfill.

As a whole, Wales used less than three quarters (73 per cent) of its maximum landfill quota for biodegradable municipal waste.

The Landfill Allowances Scheme, launched in October 2004, is designed to help Wales meet its obligations under the EU Landfill Directive. The Directive aims to cap the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill at 50 per cent of the 1995 figure by 2013, and 35 per cent of the 1995 figure by 2020. Every Welsh council has an allowance for the amount of biodegradable waste it can send to landfill; exceeding these allowances can lead to fines.
Keeping biodegradable waste away from landfill is not just important on financial grounds. When biodegradable waste is landfilled it produces methane, which as a greenhouse gas has a far greater impact on climate change than carbon dioxide.

As a result, food waste is a key priority in Wales’ waste strategy Towards Zero Waste and the Welsh Government funds Waste Awareness Wales, which works closely with Welsh local authorities to help them encourage people to reduce their waste. Unlike elsewhere in the UK, every council in Wales runs a kerbside food waste collection, which will cover nine out of ten households by the end of the year. Food collected in this way is then composted or treated using anaerobic digestion to create biogas which can be used as a fuel.