Waste Facilities in UK

Overview

DEFRA publish an annual digest of waste statistics and this page and the broader summary page on UK Waste Tonnage. The headline tonnages for 2016 for the UK (from a total of 214.3 million tonnes) were:

• Recycling and Recovery 104 million tonnes (48.5%)
• Landfill 52.3 million tonnes (24.4%)
• Energy Recovery Facility 7.3 million tonnes (3.4% but the fastest growing)

Split by Type of Treatment Method

The split by treatment method is heavily distorted by Soil and Mineral Waste contributing significantly to Backfilling and Landfill but also the Recycling and other Recovery (where some categories of application of this material to land are classified as Recovery). The majority of Household and similar wastes were treated at an Energy Recovery Facility.

Final Treatment Methods for Waste, UK, 2016. Percentage of waste material by treatment type.

Waste Material	Energy Recovery	Incineration	Recycling and Other Recovery	Backfilling	Deposit onto/into Land (Landfill)	Land Treatment and Release into Water Bodies
Metallic Waste	0%	0%	14%	0%	0%	0%
Glass Wastes	0%	0%	2%	0%	0%	0%
Paper & Cardboard Waste	0%	0%	4%	0%	0%	0%
Plastic Waste	0%	0%	1%	0%	0%	0%
Wood Waste	8%	13%	2%	1%	0%	0%
Vegetable Waste	0%	1%	4%	0%	0%	0%
Household & Similar Waste	76%	38%	1%	0%	11%	0%
Mineral Waste	0%	0%	55%	5%	6%	60%
Soils	0%	0%	12%	89%	55%	0%
Dredging Spoils	0%	0%	0%	1%	0%	40%
Other Waste	16%	48%	6%	4%	27%	0%
All Wastes	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Split by Number of Permitted Facility

DEFRA consolidate information from each of the four UK environment agencies authorized by an Environmental Permit or similar. The data with : in the table is not available, Energy Recovery has R1 status, and excludes sites exempt from requiring an Environmental Permit and intermediate treatment (which includes most Anaerobic Digestion).

Number and Capacity of Permitted Final Treatment Facilities, UK and England, 2014-16

Facility Type	Measure	UK		England
		2014	2016	2014	2016
Energy Recovery	Number of Facilities	29	37	13	23
	Capacity (kt/yr)	4,862	9,808	2,803	7,202
Incineration	Number of Facilities	83	78	60	57
	Capacity (kt/yr)	9,859	8,474	9,040	8,193
Recovery other than Energy Recovery (includes Backfilling)	Number of Facilities	2,660	3,506	1,669	1,944
	Capacity	:	:	:	:
Deposit onto/into Land (Landfill)	Number of Facilities (including closed facilities)	596	604	493	510
	Rest (remaining) Capacity (thousand m3)	592,637	554,751	484,370	464,891

Links to other Pages

WikiWaste has a number of pages dedicated to summarizing specific Treatment and Disposal facilities, grouped broadly at present into:

• Residual Waste EFW
• Biomass Waste EFW (including Waste Wood EFW, Sewage Sludge EFW and Agricultural Waste EFW)
• Anaerobic Digestion Sites
• Material Recovery Facility Sites (handling Dry Mixed Recyclables)
• Mechanical Biological Treatment Sites