Organic Waste

Organic Waste is generally reported to comprise Garden Waste and Food Waste and arisings total around 23,000,000 tonnes per year. It generally excludes Agricultural Waste (including manures and slurries which total around 90,000,000 tonnes per year) and Sewage Sludge (which totals around 2,000,000 tonnes per year).

Picture of Green Waste source 123RF.com

Picture of Food Waste source Mental Floss

Overview

Organic waste is waste that is biodegradable, generally reported as Garden Waste and Food Waste. Whilst other wastes have an organic and/or biological content (such as Sewage Sludge and Agricultural Waste manures and slurries) they are separately reported.

Anaerobic Digestion and Composting (either Windrow Composting or In-vessel Composting) are the treatment methods for dealing with organic waste, and are key 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, with WRAP data for Food Waste from 2018 and organic waste generally from 2008. The macro numbers under-report the total organic waste arisings in the UK as a whole as they exclude:

• Organic Waste which is within general mixed waste (i.e. DEFRA only report segregated materials)
• A large proportion of Agricultural Waste which is Food Waste (and hence Organic Waste) which is not reported (i.e. reject crops or crop wastage that is ploughed back into fields)
• Other organic waste streams that are separately recorded (i.e. Sewage Sludge and Agricultural Waste manures and slurries)

WRAP Figures

WRAP in their organics report (dated 2008) reported the following total arisings:

Organic Waste	MSW Arisings (Tonnes)	C&I Waste Arisings (Tonnes)	Total Arisings (Tonnes)
Food Waste	6,100,000	5,700,000	11,800,00001
Garden Waste	6,400,000	4,200.000	10,600,000
Other	0	2,600,000	2,600,000
Total	12,500,0002	12,500,000	25,000,000

1. The table is superseded by the figure below, showing the reviewed position of WRAP for Food Waste at 9,500,000 tonnes in 2018 (a reduction of around 2,300,000 tonnes) taking the total organic waste arisings to around 23,000,000 tonnes.
2. Within the report WRAP indicated that 3,612,000 tonnes of the total arisings shown was collected, the majority of which was Garden Waste. Food Waste collection has increased since that time to around treble that reported as collected (c. 780,000 tonnes) and an increase in composting at the home (c. 530,000 tonnes). This has resulted in WRAP now reporting 1,300,000 tonnes of collected Food Waste. With Garden Waste reasonably static this means the 3,612,000 tonnes has increased to around 4,600,000 tonnes.

As noted above, 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 summarising their findings and further explained on the Food Waste page:

Source: WRAP Graphic - Key Facts Report Updated May 2019

DEFRA Figures

As set out above, the DEFRA macro numbers only report segregated organic waste and identifies three categories of wastes:

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
Total	9,189,587

The categories are split into six potential sources, as are all the DEFRA figures, summarised in the pie charts and data tables 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

From the information above, 4,959,851 tonnes is reported as household (54% of the total) and slightly more than the estimated figure of 4,600,000 tonnes above (mainly as a result of Garden Waste assumptions). The tonnage reported as C&I Waste of 4,063,247 tonnes (45% of the total) will be predominantly Food Waste, with only incidental other tonnage captured from other sources. This tonnage is higher than WRAP figures.

WasteDataFlow Figures

The tonnage reported through WasteDataFlow by the Waste Collection Authorities and Waste Disposal Authorities for England and Wales are set out in the sections below for each Collection System Design for Garden Waste and Food Waste. The tonnage reported is for the 2017/18 financial year and is summarised as follows (and screens out those reporting below the de-minimus figures set out in each section for simplicity):

Collection Method	Tonnes
Green garden Waste Only	286,161
Mixed garden and Food Waste	310,815
Other Compostable Waste	63,642
Waste food Only	157,30
Total	818,148

Green garden Waste Only

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 30,000 tonnes of Green Waste to a single waste operator as part of a Collection System Design that is termed Green Separate in the arrangements section of WikiWaste, and which can be on a variety of different frequencies and can be Green Charged or Green Not Charged:

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 30,000 tonnes of Green Waste mixed with Food Waste to a single waste operator as part of a Collection System Design that is termed Green Comingled or Food Comingled in the arrangements section of WikiWaste.

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 5,000 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 10,000 tonnes of Food Waste to a single waste operator as part of a Collection System Design that is termed Food Separate in the arrangements section of WikiWaste.

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}}}