Overview

Organic waste is waste that is biodegradable, including Garden Waste and Food Waste[1]‌.

Anaerobic Digestion and 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[1].

Macro Tonnage

The most recent information published by DEFRA [2] [3]identifies three categories of wastes that are generally considered to be organic 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:

File:Organics Pie Chart.png
Organic Waste - Tonnage Reported by DEFRA as arising in 2016 (from two specific groups)

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 [4]identify over 10,000,000 tonnes of food waste, of which 7,100,000 tonnes was from household sources with the following graphic summarizing their findings:

 
WRAP Summary Diagram of Food Waste


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 2000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 WRAP, 2017. Organics | WRAP UK. Wrap.org.uk. [online] [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
  2. Digest of Waste Resources 2018 reporting data from 2016
  3. UK Statistics on Waste 2019 updating some of the 2018 Digest with 2017 data
  4. WRAP Food Surplus and Waste in the UK - Key Facts