Welsh councils successfully reduce landfill-bound waste

All local authorities within Wales have been found to be well within their limits for the amount of waste sent to landfill sites. According to the Natural Resources Wales' (NRW's) Landfill Allowances Scheme (LAS) report, the year 2012/13 saw a reduction in the amount of rubbish going to landfill, suggesting that more care is being taken to recycle throughout the country.

It was found that between April 1st 2012 and March 31st 2013 a total of 364,784 tonnes of waste was sent to landfill by Welsh councils. The government's targets state that 470,000 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) is allowed to be sent to landfill by councils. The actual figures show a positive difference of 22 per cent between the target and actual figures, showing that programmes to reduce landfill waste are working.

In order to allow the country to meet with the EU Landfill Directive, the LAS restrictions were brought into force in October 2004. These regulations were designed to allow Wales to reduce the amount of BMW that is sent to landfill by half of the amount sent in 1995. According to the EU Landfill Directive, this reduction must be met by this year.

A further reduction states that landfill-bound waste must be reduced to 35 per cent of the levels recorded in 1995 by the year 2020. This target was seen by many as incredibly difficult to achieve, but the latest figures show that councils throughout Wales are managing to reduce the amount of BMW that is heading to landfill sites instead of being recycled. If any local authority was found to be breaching the limitations, they would face heavy fines.

The latest LAS report shows that Welsh councils have managed to reduce the amount of BMW that is sent to landfill by 57 per cent since 2005/06, which was the first full year of the report. According to the figures for the year 2012/13, Welsh local authorities have managed to achieve a 62 per cent reduction. This shows that they are right on track to meet with the EU Landfill Directive.