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Indicator 4. Waste: production
Municipal waste arisings in million tonnes of waste
Year | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
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Total municipal waste arisings (million tonnes) | 3.0 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.1 | N/A | N/A | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
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Source: SEPA and Scottish Executive
Note: Data were not collected in 1995 and 1996 following transfer of responsibilities from The Scottish Office to SEPA.
The relevance of the indicator
Waste material represents a potentially valuable resource. We need to reduce the amount of material we dispose of, and do more to minimise our waste, reuse it and recycle.
Detailed definition and source details
The indicator is defined as the amount of municipal solid waste collected by or on behalf of local authorities. In addition to household waste this includes any commercial and industrial waste collected by local authorities. Different methods have been used to collect the data over the years. Figures from 1989 to 1994 were extracted from Table A1.2 of the Scottish Office Bulletin for 1994. The 1997 and 1998 figures were taken from a study for SEPA and the Scottish Executive 1. The 1999 data were estimated by SEPA using data available through the local Strategic Waste Management Baseline Assessment reports and by contacting the local authorities. Since 2000, data have been collected by SEPA. The 2000 - 2003 data refer to financial years and are published in the Waste Data Digest or as part of the results of the Local Authority Waste Arisings Survey on the SEPA website 2.
Trends
Since 1989, the amount of municipal solid waste arisings has varied between 2.9 million and 3.4 million tonnes per year. The latest estimate is 3.32 million tonnes in financial year 2003-2004. Data from other parts of the UK indicate that waste production has been rising at a rate of 2-3% per annum but this is not apparent from the Scottish data. It is not clear whether the Scottish data is reliable enough to assume that Scottish waste production is not also growing.
Further disaggregation
Further disaggregation of these figures is now possible through SEPA's annual survey of local authority waste arisings which is summarised in the annual Waste Data Digest2.
Target
An initial target was suggested in the National Waste Strategy: Scotland in 19992 which was to aim to reduce municipal waste production by 1% per annum. We have reviewed this target in the light of the area waste planning process and development of the National Waste Plan. This involved detailed consideration of potential growth rates and the main factors which influence this ( e.g. population, household size, and consumer behaviour). It is clear in the light of that, and of trends elsewhere in the UK, that there are no simple means of reducing waste growth and that measures by local authorities and others to reduce waste production, such as educational awareness programmes, will need to be sustained over many years. Accordingly the National Plan set a revised target for municipal waste reduction of achieving zero growth by 2010. Depending on how quickly progress can be made to reduce waste growth, this should mean that no more than 3.5 million tonnes of municipal waste would be produced in 2010.
Action
We have established a Strategic Waste Fund to assist local authorities in implementing Area Waste Plans under the National Waste Strategy. This has provided local authorities with £335m up to 2007/08. Eleven AWPs were developed as part of the National Waste Strategy to determine the Best Practicable Environmental Option ( BPEO) for dealing with waste in each area. All eleven AWPs included some form of waste minimisation as part of the BPEO.
SEPA's waste data strategy is being implemented to provide a robust set of waste data on municipal and other wastes. This will inform future waste management planning and allow more accurate tracking of waste production.
We are also working with SEPA on a strategy to reduce municipal solid waste in Scotland.
Footnotes1 Available on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/erf9-00.asp
2 2003 data available on the SEPA website at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/nws/data/lawas/2003_2004/scotland.pdf
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