Waste Management in the United Kingdom: Interesting Facts

Around 215 million tonnes of household waste is generated across the United Kingdom each year. Reliable statistics clearly reveal that Britain’s mountain of waste can fill the nation’s largest lake, Lake Windermere in just eight months. If the waste was deposited into Albert Hall, London, it would be full in two hours.

Well, here is a surprising fact. The waste produced by each household annually in Britain is enough to produce 5,000 hours of electricity to power a TV, run about 3,500 showers and 500 baths.

Yet, most of the waste produced in Britain such as plastic bottles are never sustainably disposed of. The plastic bottles are mostly never recycled, either commercially or domestically. If you care about your environment, this fact more than makes the case for using reputable companies.

Here are more interesting facts about waste management in the United Kingdom.

Recycling Plastic Bags

It is estimated that households in the United Kingdom throw away 90 billion pieces of plastic packaging per year. Surprisingly, if the plastic packaging is deposited at a landfill, it can take between 500 to 1000 years to decompose. And during all this time, they’ll be largely responsible for a number of variable factors that affect the environment.

The Welsh government in 2011 passed a law to encourage citizens to reuse their plastic bags. Shops are required by law to charge 5 pc for every new plastic bag used by a shopper. This plastic bag levy has reduced usage of plastic bags by 90% in Wales.

Also Read: 3 Sustainable Methods for Yard Waste Management

Paper Recycling

It is estimated that the every UK citizen uses, on average, about 200 kgs of paper and cardboard per year. Nationally, the United Kingdom consumes 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard per year. The number of trees to produce this amount of paper would cover a forest the size of Wales.

Surprisingly, the amount of wrapping paper used during the festive season in the United Kingdom is enough to go round the earth along the equator nine times. This figure does not consider the paper used for other purposes during this time, such as cards and packaging. As well, during the festive season, a lot of food gets thrown away.

This wasted food, unfortunately, is not recyclable. The paper is recyclable, though. It can be reused as a newspaper in less than a week after disposal.

Glass Recycling

Britons use a whopping 5 million tonnes of glass annually. If the glass containers are not recycled after use, these can result in an enormous load of garbage. Unlike what you may expect, the glass bottles can be recycled an average of 13 times before they lose their purity.

Producing glass bottles from recycled glass has a number of energy saving benefits. Each glass bottle produces enough energy to power a TV for 15 minutes, a washing machine for 10 minutes, and a 100 W bulb for an entire house. Using a reliable waste management company will help your used glass bottles get to their collection point efficiently, from where they are taken for recycling.

Considering these staggering figures, you may be wondering how the rubbish removal of such an amount is accomplished. Well, there are environment-friendly ways to manage waste. This waste produced nationally can be recycled and also turned into a clean source of energy.