Wiltshire households produce half a TONNE of non-recycled rubbish
Officials say recycling levels are increasing
Wiltshire produced just over half a ton of non-recycled rubbish per household last year.
The average amount of non-recycled waste produced per Wiltshire household was 519kgs in 20234/24, a reduction from the 549kgs of the previous year.
This is according to data which will be presented to Wiltshire Council’s environment select committee on Tuesday, September 3.
The report notes that in 2023/24, 860 tonnes of waste brought to the county’s household recycling centres were separated out for reuse rather than disposal.
According to the council, this represents an avoided disposal cost of over £100,000 compared to the cost of landfilling the waste.
Nevertheless, 31,533 tonnes of waste from Wiltshire were sent to landfill in the same year.
This represents approximately 15 per cent of the total household waste managed by the council.
Overall, the rate of recycling in the county has risen from 40 per cent last year up to 43.7 per cent in 2023/24.
The council largely attributes this to an increase in composted garden waste, but notes that its “Recycling – Let’s Sort it” campaign has led to a significant decrease in the number of recycling bins needing to be rejected due to contamination.
Whereas over 5,000 bins were rejected during March 2023, just over 1,000 bins were rejected in March 2024.