Construction and Demolition Waste

Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D Waste) is defined as "waste generated by construction and demolition activities" [1]. Construction, Demolition and Excavation waste (mining waste) (CD&E Waste) includes excavation materials.

DEFRA statistics published in July 2021 show that there was 67.8 million tonnes of C&D Waste generated in 2018, with the addition of excavation waste taking the total CD&E Waste generated in the UK in 2018 to 137.8 million tonnes, with a further 14.8 million tonnes of mining waste[2].

Under the Waste Framework Directive there is a target to for the Recovery of non-hazardous C&D waste of 70% by 2020, which the UK is currently meeting even taking into consideration the high level of uncertainty around the absolute tonnage figures. The large proportion of this waste is used as a Secondary Aggregate in construction. The figures for England and the UK are extracted in the table below from the DEFRA Digest for C&D Waste[2]

C&D Waste Recovery Rates 2010-18 (reported to 2020 for England)
UK England
Generation Recovery Recovery Rate Generation Recovery Recovery Rate
M tonnes M tonnes %ge M tonnes M tonnes %ge
2010 59.2 53.1 89.7% 53.6 49.4 92.2%
2011 60.2 55.0 91.4% 54.9 50.8 92.5%
2012 55.8 50.8 91.1% 50.5 46.4 92.0%
2013 57.1 52.0 91.2% 51.7 47.6 92.0%
2014 61.5 56.3 91.5% 55.9 51.7 92.4%
2015 63.8 58.0 91.0% 57.7 53.3 92.3%
2016 66.2 60.0 91.7% 59.6 55.0 92.1%
2017 68.7 63.0 91.5% 62.2 57.9 93.1%
2018 67.8 62.6 92.3% 61.4 57.5 93.8%
2019 - - - 62.3 58.3 93.6%
2020 - - - 53.6 50.0 93.2%

References

  1. defined within Directive 2018/851 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (the Waste Framework Directive)
  2. 2.0 2.1 UK Statistics on Waste - May 2022 update