Waste Statistics Regulation
The European Union Waste Statistics Regulation (EC 2150/2002) came into force in November 2002 and requires the UK and other Member States to report data on the generation and treatment of waste to the Commission every two years.
Data for the first reference year of 2004 were compiled for the UK by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and submitted to the Commission in June 2006. These data are available on Defra’s website. Data for all Member States of the EU are available on Eurostat's website.
SEPA worked with the Scottish Executive and with Defra to ensure that appropriate data for 2004 was available for Scotland and will continue to do so for future reporting years. Many different sources of data were used to populate the reporting matrices for the Waste Statistics Regulation in the reference year, and SEPA carried out several data collection initiatives for this purpose. Results from the Commercial and Industrial Waste Producer Survey (2004), a study on construction and demolition wastes and SEPA’s Local Authority Waste Arisings Survey provided information on waste generation, while statutory returns from licensed / permitted waste management facilities regulated by SEPA provided much of the data on the treatment of waste.
An analysis of the Scotland data for 2004 is available in the following report:
This report shows the quantity and types of waste generated and treated in Scotland as a whole and by business sector. Note that for the purposes of the Waste Statistics Regulation, waste treatment covers incineration, recovery and disposal.
Results summary
Approximately 30 million tonnes of waste were generated in Scotland in 2004. Among the business sectors in Scotland, mining and quarrying, and construction activities were the largest producers of waste, each accounting for approximately 29% of the total waste generated in 2004. The largest waste types generated in Scotland in 2004 were mineral wastes (15.72 million tonnes; 52%) and household and similar wastes (8.99 million tonnes; 30%).
Almost 21 million tonnes of waste were treated in Scotland in 2004. Of the treated waste, 16.96 million tonnes (81%) were sent for disposal, 3.62 million tonnes (17%) were recovered and 322,003 tonnes (1.5%) were incinerated. Of the wastes disposed, 16.09 million tonnes (95%) were sent to landfill. The majority (14.29 million tonnes; 68%) of the waste types treated in Scotland were mineral wastes.
Additional information
Although Member States are required to report data to the Commission every two years, it is SEPA’s intention to compile and publish data in the Waste Statistics Regulation format for Scotland every year. These data will be published on this website.
For the first reporting year, each EU Member State was required to provide a quality report to the Commission so the data could be assessed. These reports are available here.
