Municipal waste
What is Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)?
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is LACMW plus commercial and
industrial waste similar to that generated by households which is
collected by commercial operators (i.e. not by or on behalf of a
local authority). This is the definition which will be used
by Scotland and the UK for reporting against EU landfill diversion
targets. It includes all waste types included under European Waste
Catalogue Code 20 and some wastes under Codes 15 and 19.
Why are municipal waste data important?
The main reason that municipal waste data is important is that
they allow SEPA to monitor the progress towards the Landfill
Directive (1999/31/EC) Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) to
landfill targets.
How are the data collected?
The total MSW landfilled data is collected from statutory
returns from licensed/permitted waste management facilities. These
returns are provided quarterly using standard return forms that are
submitted to SEPA by operators on a quarterly basis. Further
information is available on the licensed-permitted site data
returns page.
What are the data used for?
SEPA uses municipal waste data mainly for:
- monitoring the progress towards the BMW to landfill targets
included in the Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC);
- providing data for the annual Waste Data Digest;
- providing data for other national and European reporting
obligations.