The Open University household waste study
Students from the Open University completing an ‘Environmental Control and Public Health’ course have conducted a study on 107 households in England to analyse their waste generation and disposal during 2007.
The key findings from their report shows that:
- The average rate of waste arising from each household amounted to 18.6kg per week in 2007, compared to 13.0kg in the previous year.
- More than 80% of households set out waste for kerbside recycling.
- Over 50% of all waste recycled in 2007 was recycled through kerbside collections. 25% was recycled at CA sites, 13.7% at other recycling sites and the remaining 8.5% was donated to jumble sales and charity shops.
- The majority of waste recycled by households in 2007 was packaging waste.
- 26% of waste deposited at CA sites was garden waste, a significant drop from the 41.8% between 2000 - 2005.
- Waste analyses showed that food waste comprised 34.7% of the residual waste stream.
A full version of the report is available for download from:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/waste/research/index.htm