More than half of all bulky waste items taken to household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) could be re-used, according to a new report published by WRAP today (August 16). The new report also claims that 40% of bulky items collected at the kerbside, such as sofas and televisions, could be re-used. Of bulky items taken to an HWRC, 32% were estimated to be re-usable in their current condition, increasing to 51% if items requiring slight repair (but in otherwise good condition) were taken into account.
For items collected at kerbside, 24% were estimated to be re-usable in their current condition, rising to 40% if items requiring slight repair were taken into account.
‘Composition and re-usability of bulky waste in the UK’– is the first UK-wide piece of research to look at the composition of bulky waste in the UK, in order to assess the potential for re-use. It follows a report WRAP published last year on the environmental and economic benefits of re-use.
National estimates derived from WasteDataFlow, the online database for UK municipal waste reporting, suggest that across the UK during 2010/11, some 1.6 million tonnes of bulky waste was collected at the kerbside or taken to HWRCs. Approximately twice as much is taken to HWRCs (1 million tonnes) than is collected at the kerbside (540,000 tonnes).
Using the above data and extrapolating the sample findings across all UK kerbside and HWRC bulky waste collections, the report suggests that of all bulky waste in the UK, (including both kerbside collected and HWRC bulky items), around 42% consists of furniture, 19% textiles and 19% WEEE. These estimates equate to 670,000 tonnes of furniture and 310,000 tonnes each of textiles and WEEE disposed of by householders in the UK annually.
Mervyn Jones, head of products and materials at WRAP, said: “There is a perception that many bulky items taken to household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) or collected at kerbside are not re-usable. However, this research shows that there is significant re-use potential to be realised from these items.
“This research will help local authorities and HWRC operators to remove these items from the waste stream, either for re-sale or for passing on to the third sector.”
Link to report here
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