Commercial and industrial waste producer survey - Scotland
In 2004, SEPA commissioned the first national survey of commercial and industrial waste producers. The main objective of the survey was to establish the types and quantities of waste produced by businesses in Scotland and how these wastes were subsequently managed. The results of the survey will enable Scotland to report data to the EU under the Waste Statistics Regulation, will provide valuable information to underpin the development of the National Waste Strategy for Scotland and will inform the development of future waste producer surveys.
The survey was carried out by Envirocentre Ltd and MEL Research, initially as a pilot study for the year 2003. A questionnaire was sent to approximately 12,500 businesses located in Scotland, including all of those employing 50 people or more, and a selection of smaller businesses. All business sectors were represented in the survey, with the exception of the agriculture and construction sectors, which were specifically excluded. The survey achieved a return rate of 16.9%, representing coverage of 1.7% of all companies in Scotland. As the majority of respondents provided data for 2004, and all large businesses had been surveyed, the pilot study became a full survey reporting data for 2004.
Details of the survey methodology and information on the waste management practices of businesses surveyed are contained in the Envirocentre/MEL report ‘Pilot survey of industrial and commercial waste production in Scotland: final report to SEPA’.
Following this, statistical analysis of the sample data was undertaken by Napier University Centre for Mathematics and Statistics. Their report ‘Estimation of commercial and industrial waste produced in Scotland in 2004’ provides estimates of waste produced by businesses in 2004.
Results from the survey show that an estimated 8.96 million tonnes of waste was produced by businesses in 2004, of which 6.39 million tonnes (71%) of waste arose from commerce and 2.57 million tonnes (29%) from industry. It should be noted that estimates from this type of sample survey are subject to large confidence intervals and the results are therefore indicative only.
The full results of the statistical analysis are contained in the Napier University report and can also be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets here.
The documents relating to the commercial and industrial waste producer survey can be viewed by clicking on the relevant links below:
