Organic Waste

Overview

Organic waste is waste that is biodegradable, including Garden Waste and Food Waste‌ but which can also include some Agricultural Waste. Whilst other wastes have an organic and/or biological content (such as Sewage Sludge) they are separately reported.

Anaerobic Digestion and Composting (either Windrow Composting or In-vessel Composting) are the best methods for dealing with organic waste, and is essential to diverting waste from landfill and producing renewable energy and sustainable fertilisers.

Macro Tonnage

The most recent information published by DEFRA is based on 2016 data and identifies three categories of wastes that are generally considered to be organic. However, the data does not breakdown the tonnage into (although more detailed and recent data is broken down by WRAP on the Food Waste page of WikiWaste) and is part of the broader tonnage reported as UK Waste Tonnage:

Reported by DEFRA as Generated in 2016	Tonnes
Animal & Mixed Food Waste	3,056,065
Vegetable Wastes	6,019,100
Animal Faeces, Urine & Manure	114,422

The final category is not relevant to household waste and local authority waste generally, but the other two categories have more significant tonnage that is split across primarily household, commercial and industrial tonnages as shown the in pie charts below:

Vegetable Wastes		Animal & Mixed Food Waste
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Data Table		Data Table
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF)	11,129	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF)	31,846
Mining and Quarrying (MQ)	1,241	Mining and Quarrying (MQ)	416
Industrial (Ind)	1,333,996	Industrial (Ind)	1,657,269
Construction (Con)	7,341	Construction (Con)	93
Commercial (Com)	266,771	Commercial (Com)	805,211
Household (HH)	4,398,621	Household (HH)	561,230

The macro numbers above under-report the total organic waste put into the market as the macro numbers exclude tonnage in mixed categories and under report food waste at farm which may be ploughed back into fields without recording it as waste.

WRAP in their most recent report identify around 9,500,000 tonnes of Food Waste, of which 6,600,000 tonnes was from household sources with the following graphic summarizing their findings and further explained on the Food Waste page:

Source: WRAP Graphic - Key Facts Report Updated May 2019

The headers below presently only capture the tonnage collected and reported by local authorities through WasteDataFlow.

Green garden Waste Only

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 30000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes
Cheshire West and Chester	Green waste	Windrow or other composting	George Whittaker And Sons ( Knutsford) Ltd	Bypass Road, Hapsford, Cheshire	Green garden waste only	30,518.36	{{{date}}}

Mixed garden and Food Waste

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 30000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes
Cheshire East	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	Biowise Limited	Leighton Grange FARM, Middlewich Road, Leighton, Cheshire East,	Mixed garden and food waste	53,228.92	{{{date}}}
East Riding of Yorkshire Council	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	Biowise Ltd	Biowise Composting Facility, Albion Lane Site, Albion Lane, Willerby, East Yorkshire	Mixed garden and food waste	41,452.23	{{{date}}}
Fife	Mixed green and food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Not Available	Not Available	Mixed garden and food waste	38,664.18	{{{date}}}
Stockport MBC	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd	Bredbury Park Way, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport	Mixed garden and food waste	35,537.10	{{{date}}}
Shropshire	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	Agripost Ltd	Lower House, Cardeston, Ford, Shrewsbury, Shropshire	Mixed garden and food waste	32,617.08	{{{date}}}
Cambridge City and South Cambs Councils	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	Amey Cespa ( East ) Ltd	Waterbeach Waste Management Park, Ely Road, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire	Mixed garden and food waste	30,058.21	{{{date}}}

Other Compostable Waste

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 5000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes
Fife	Mixed green and food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Not Available	Not Available	Other compostable waste	38,664.18	{{{date}}}
Aberdeenshire	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	Not Available	Not Available	Other compostable waste	10,075.66	{{{date}}}
Stockport MBC	Mixed green and food waste	In vessel composting	SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd	Bredbury Park Way, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport	Other compostable waste	7,260.60	{{{date}}}

Waste food Only

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 10000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes
Somerset Waste Partnership	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Cannington Enterprises Ltd	Mobile Plant	Waste food only	23,575.29	{{{date}}}
Cardiff County Council	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Other/Exempt	WELSH WATERTremorfa Anaerobic Digestion FacilityTide Fields RoadTremorfaCardiffCF24 5SBPermit numberEPR/AB3093CA	Waste food only	17,478.56	{{{date}}}
Bristol City Council	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Wessex Water Services Ltd	Bristol Waste Water Treatment, Kings Weston Lane, Avon	Waste food only	16,153.76	{{{date}}}
Dorset Council	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Eco Sustainable Solutions Ltd	Bourne Park, Piddleshinton, Dorchester, Dorset	Waste food only	15,686.27	{{{date}}}
City and County of Swansea	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Other/Exempt	STORMY DOWNBRIDGEND	Waste food only	14,695.17	{{{date}}}
Buckinghamshire Council	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Olleco	Westcottt Biogas Generation Plant, , Westcott Venture Park, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire,	Waste food only	13,730.53	{{{date}}}
Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Other/Exempt	Biogen AD Facility, Bryn Pica landfill Site, Merthyr Road, Llwydcoed, Aberdare, CF44 0BX.	Waste food only	12,306.52	{{{date}}}
Edinburgh, City of	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Not Available	Not Available	Waste food only	10,594.83	{{{date}}}
Cheshire West and Chester	Food waste	Anaerobic or Aerobic Digestion Segregated	Severn Trent Green Power Limited, Coleshill Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Plant	Coleshill Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Plant, Coleshill Sewage Treatment Works, Marconi Way, Warwickshire	Waste food only	10,578.66	{{{date}}}