London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

7. Findings and Recommendations
7.1. The key findings of the study are summarised in this chapter. A complete list of the
study findings is presented from paragraph 7.17-7.58, for each of the C&I, C&D and
hazardous waste sections. However, an overview of the key findings and themes is first
presented in paragraphs 7.3-7.16.
Overview of Key Findings
7.2. The key findings from the research into current waste management arrangements for
Wider Wastes can broadly be summarised under the following headings:
Data Sources and Reliability
7.3. The study has highlighted the limitations associated with the existing available data on
London’s wider (non-municipal) wastes. While the Environment Agency’s consignment
note system provides a reasonably comprehensive record of hazardous waste arisings,
the current data for commercial and industrial (C&I) and construction and demolition
(C&D) waste is based on extrapolations from limited national survey data. Significant
data uncertainties exist from the limitations of these surveys in terms of (a) their size
and how representative they are of the actual waste streams and (b) the applicability of
the national data surveys (which include only limited survey data from London) to
London’s waste. As a result, the existing waste data about London’s C&I and C&D waste
streams should be regarded as estimates only, rather than absolute figures and subject
to significant uncertainty.
7.4. This uncertainty also extends to the composition of these wider waste streams. While
the composition data on hazardous waste is considered to be detailed and reliable, the
composition data for the other waste streams suffers from the following inadequacies:
• C&I wastes: Only limited composition data is available on a sectoral basis,
particularly for London as a whole with very limited data available on specific
industrial sectors.
• C&D wastes: Very few surveys have been carried out on C&D waste composition in
the UK; none of these have been carried out in London. There is evidence that the
composition of demolition waste is quite different from construction waste and also
that the waste composition profile changes depending on the stage of the
construction project.
7.5. London’s C&I wastes are currently estimated (from a survey based on 1998/1999 data)
as 7.1 million tonnes, of which 61% are reported from commercial sources (and
therefore similar in composition to municipal wastes) and 39% from industrial sources.
The results from a new survey (currently being undertaken by the Environment Agency)
are expected in the autumn of 2004 and are quite likely to be significantly different
from this earlier estimate, in terms of both the estimate of total waste arisings and the
split between commercial and industrial sources.
7.6. London’s C&D wastes are currently estimated (from a national survey of 2002 arisings)
to be in the range 3.70-8.40 million tonnes per annum. This estimate comprises ‘hard’
C&D wastes only and excludes ‘soft’ C&D wastes such as timber, plastics, plasterboard
etc. The quantity of these ‘soft’ waste arisings is currently not measured. As a result,
the above range probably represents an underestimate of London’s total C&D waste
arisings.
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