§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will provide an estimate of the total tonnage of domestic waste collected by or on behalf of local authorities during 1997 and of the tonnage collected 21 years earlier. [HL827]
§ Baroness HaymanA new annual survey by DETR found that in 1995–96 almost 24 million tonnes of household waste was collected by, or on behalf of local authorities in England and Wales. Figures were published in January 1998 in a new statistical bulletin,Municipal Waste Management 1995–96. A copy was placed in the Library of the House of Lords. Figures for 1996–97 will be published in early summer, 1998.
The only data on waste handled by local authorities for earlier years derive from surveys carried out in the 1970s and 1980s by CIPFA. These surveys used different definitions and suffered from a declining response rate, so it is not easy to make comparisons over time. However, recent research suggests that between 1983 and 1993 household waste arisings may have grown by as much as 2 per cent. per annum.