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Waste Facts
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The waste that we produce is
increasing by around 1% each year.
To achieve the Scottish Government’s target of Zero Waste by 2025, there is still a long way to go.
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Reduce
- Over a third of all direct mail is discarded unopened (Direct Mail Information Service, 2006).
- Find out how you can reduce your unwanted mail by visiting our Unwanted Mail website.
- Over a third of the food we buy in Scotland is thrown directly in the bin and at least half of this could have been eaten (WRAP, 2008)
- Around 587,000 tonnes of food waste is thrown out by Scottish households each year (WRAP, 2008).
- Over £889m worth of food is wasted by consumers in Scotland each year. That’s an average of £410 per household (WRAP, 2008).
- If we stopped wasting all this food, we could prevent the equivalent of 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in Scotland. This is the same as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road (WRAP, 2008).
- Find out how you can reduce your food waste by visiting our Love Food Hate Waste website.
- Garden waste makes up 20% of the average household bin (WRAP/Parfitt, 2002)
- In 2005/06, Local Authorities across Scotland composted 286,500 tonnes of garden waste (SEPA Waste Digest, 2006)
- Adding compost to soil increases the nutrients and crumb structure to help plants grow
- You can now buy a discounted compost bin in all 32 local authority areas of Scotland. Go to the Home Composting pages to order your bin online
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Reuse
- 8 million nappies are thrown away every day in the UK (Real Nappy Campaign)
- In Scotland this works out at nearly 600,000 nappies per day in Scotland, which equates to 20,000 tonnes per year (GRO Scotland, WRAP tonnage conversion tool)
- You can save around £500 by using real nappies and washing them at home. (Women’s Environment Network, 2006)
- You can find out more about Real Nappies by visiting the Real Nappies section of the website
- In 2007, community based furniture projects re-used 14,000 tonnes of furniture and appliances across Scotland (CRNS)
- Furniture projects in Scotland are used by over 100,000 people per year, 68,000 of whom are on a low income and around 30,000 are moving out of homelessness (CRNS)
- Find out how you can reuse your furniture by visiting the More than Furniture website
- In 2007, 400 million litres of paint (retail and trade) were sold in the UK. Of this, it is estimated that approximately 56 million litres are unused, stored in homes or garages or just thrown away. That’s enough paint to fill 22 Olympic-sized swimming pools (Community RePaint)
- In 2006 the Community RePaint national network redistributed over 208,000 litres of paint to a total of 11,000 individuals and community and voluntary groups (Community RePaint)
- Find out how you can reuse leftover paint by visiting the Community RePaint website
- Textiles make up 3% of the average household bin (WRAP/Parfitt, 2002)
- Nearly 70% of the items put in Salvation Army clothing banks are able to be reused (Waste Online)
- In 2005/06 local authorities in Scotland collected 14,377 tonnes of textiles for recycling (SEPA, 2006)
- You can find out more about textile reuse on our Charity Shop page. You can find out about textile recycling on the Textile Recycling page of this website
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Recycle
- We use approximately 41 million batteries in Scotland each year and the vast majority of these are sent to landfill (SEPA, 2005).
- The average Scottish household uses between 19 and 21 batteries every year (SEPA, 2005).
- 89% of batteries are for general use and can be found in every room in the house (WRAP).
- By 2012, all EU countries must collect at least 25% of household batteries for recycling, and this will increase to at least 45% by 2016. You can read more about these laws on the Europa website.
- A survey of residents in Scotland revealed that only 11% of people currently recycle their household batteries (WRAP, 2006).
- You can find out more about batteries by looking at the Battery Recycling page of this website.
- Aluminium cans are lighter than steel, and the base of an aluminium can is shinier
- A magnet will stick to a steel can, but it will not stick to an aluminium can
- Making one can from raw materials uses the same amount of energy that it takes to recycle 20 cans
- In 2006, 48% of all aluminium drinks cans were recycled (Alupro)
- Recycling aluminium is 20 times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite (Alupro)
- You can find out more about cans by looking at the Can Recycling page of this website
- Every household in the UK uses on average 331 bottles and jars per year (British Glass)
- Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power your computer for 25 minutes (British Glass)
- Glass can be recycled again and again – containers made from recycled glass are of the same high quality as those made from new raw materials
- Green glass bottles made in the UK are made with at least 85% recycled glass (British Glass)
- You can find out more about glass by looking at the Glass Recycling page of this website
- Paper and board makes up 18% of the average household bin (WRAP/Parfitt, 2002)
- Recycling paper has a lower environmental impact than sending it to landfill or for incineration (WRAP, 2007)
- On average, the production of 100% recycled paper saves 1.32 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (WRAP, 2007)
- It can take just seven days for old magazines and newspapers to be recycled into new ones (Recycle Now)
- You can find out more about paper by looking at the Paper Recycling page of this website
- In the UK an estimated 13 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year (Recoup)
- The 108,000 tonnes of bottles recycled in 2006 saved approximately 162,000 tonnes of carbon (Recoup)
- It takes just 25 plastic bottles to make a recycled fleece jacket (Recoup)
- You can find out more about plastic bottles by looking at the Plastic Bottle Recycling page of this website
- Cartons consist of two or three main materials; paperboard (70-90%), low density polyethylene (10-25%), and aluminium foil (about 5% in longlife packages only) (ACE UK)
- More of us can now recycle cartons than ever before. Tetra Pak aims to provide some form of carton collection in all UK local authority areas by the end of 2008 (Tetrapak)
- Each year, UK manufacturers produce 55,000 tonnes of cartons. This equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household, which could all be recycled
- You can find out more about food & drink cartons by looking at the Carton Recycling page of this website.
- The Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations came into force in 2007
- The WEEE Regulations require all producers, retailers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment to comply with certain obligations. These include providing information for consumers about the environmental impact of WEEE, and how consumers can safely dispose of WEEE for proper treatment and recycling
- There are five categories of WEEE:
- Large electrical appliances (e.g. washing machines, cookers)
- Small electrical appliances (e.g. irons, tools, computers)
- Fridges and freezers
- Fluorescent tubes (including energy saving light bulbs)
- Televisions and monitors
- You can find out more about WEEE by looking at the WEEE recycling page of this website.
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