Data shows less rubbish thrown away in Hertfordshire, but more likely to end up in landfill

The data will be reported to a meeting of the county council’s resources and performance cabinet panel
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Residents in Hertfordshire are throwing away less rubbish – but that rubbish is more likely to end up in landfill.

According to new annual data, each household in Hertfordshire threw away an average of 462.05kg of ‘residual’ waste last year (2019/20).

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And that’s 13.5kg less than the 475.6 kg recorded in 2018/19.

Data shows less rubbish thrown away, but more likely to end up in landfillData shows less rubbish thrown away, but more likely to end up in landfill
Data shows less rubbish thrown away, but more likely to end up in landfill

The data will be reported to a meeting of the county council’s resources and performance cabinet panel on Thursday, October 1.

And the report to the panel puts the decrease down, in part, to the increase in the amount of waste being recycled.

“The reduction is likely to be as a result of increases in the amount of material being recycled, re-used and composted but also due to an increased public awareness of prevention and waste minimisation,” it states.

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Meanwhile, the report also shows that the overall recycling rate for material collected at the kerbside and from the county’s network of Household Waste Recycling Centres increased by 0.6 per cent last year, from 51.7per cent in 2018/19 to 52.3 in 2019/20.

“This reflects an increase in the amount of material recycled, composted and re-used at HWRCs of 1.9% and an increase of 0.4% for the districts and boroughs,” says the report.

However, the data also shows that a greater proportion of waste collected by the local authority in 2019/20 ended up in landfill.

According to the report, 14.6 per cent of collected waste was sent to landfill in 2018/19. But last year (2019/20) that increased to 15.7 per cent.

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Accounting for the increase, the report to the cabinet panel states: “This is a reflection on the competing pressures for availability in regional energy recovery facilities.

“In times of ‘down-time’ or unavailability at the energy recovery facilities waste needs to be directed to alternative disposal sites, often landfill.”

According to the report, data to compare the amount of waste collected, recycled and composted in Hertfordshire to other regions and nationally is expected to be published in December 2020.