Waste Facts, Figures, Information & Tips

General

The volume of waste produced in the UK in one hour could fill the Albert Hall.
The volume of waste produced in the UK in one day would be enough to fill Trafalgar Square up the top of Nelson's Column.
In 1 year around 27 million tonnes of household waste a year are produced, which represents approximately 1.2 tonnes of waste per household.
If we all reduced the weight in our bins by 10%, in a year, this would be a saving equivalent to 8,687 times the height of Blackpool Tower.
It is estimated that up to 90% of what we put in our bins is recoverable - in other word it could be used for something else rather than becoming waste.

Facts About recycled materials:

Paper

In the UK nearly 5 million tonnes of paper are being dumped in landfill or incinerated each year.
On average, each household in the UK throws away 2-3 kg of newspaper and magazines each week.
Recycling one tonne of paper saves up to 70% the energy used in manufacturing from virgin materials and requires 40% less water.
You can put paper, magazines, newspapers, catalogues into your green recycling box
You can take cardboard and paper to one of the paper banks at recycling points around the city.
You can put screwed up paper in your compost, it helps to keep the balance between 'browns and greens' in the composting process.

On average, every family in the UK consumes around 500 glass bottles and jars every year - but we recycles less than 25% of these items.
Glass can be recycled without any loss of quality over and over again and again and again and again and again …
Leicester has nearly 100 glass banks at recycling points around the city, some of which have been 'adopted' by schools which can make money from the glass deposited in them.
Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw material reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and water by 50 percent.

Nearly 3 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated every year in the UK alone, but only 5% is recycled.

Plastic bottles including milk, shampoo, washing up liquid, drinks, and similar bottles can be recycled through Recycling Box Service or at one of the two Community Recycling Centres

Every year in the UK we use 13 billion steel cans which, placed end to end,would stretch to the moon - three times!
Producing steel from recycled materials saves around 75% of the energy needed to make steel from raw materials.
In Leicester we recycle around 362 tonnes of metal in a year which is about 10,136,000cans.
About 4.1 million miles of aluminium foil goes into household waste each year - enough to wrap round the planet 164 times.
Aluminium can be recycled, without loss of quality, over and over again
Recycling aluminium can save up 95% the amount of energy used to produce aluminium from virgin materials.

Everyone can help to maximise waste recovery and minimise waste to landfill

See also:

Recycling Rate & Targets