UK Waste Facility Receipts and Removals for 2021

Environment Agency data from 2021 details waste quantities and types received at and removed from approximately 6,000 regulated waste management sites in England. Operators are legally required to submit this information, which is used for compliance monitoring and planning by DEFRA and local authorities. The dataset has been published in an interrogatable format since 2006, with files last amended in May 2024.

Use Cases

• Analyze waste type composition and quantities received at permitted sites to identify regional processing trends.
• Track waste removed from sites to downstream facilities for mapping waste flow networks and disposal routes.
• Use site location data (eastings and northings) for geospatial analysis of waste facility distribution and capacity.
• Leverage summary tables for England and former planning regions to assess performance against statutory waste targets.
• Compare operator-submitted data on waste received versus waste removed to audit facility throughput and compliance.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 6,000 regulated waste management facilities, providing broad sector coverage.
• Includes longitudinal data published in an interrogatable format annually since 2006.
• Contains corrected spatial coordinates (eastings and northings) and regional summary data in updated file versions.

Limitations

• Commercial confidentiality claims withhold identifying site details for some operators, limiting traceability.
• Data excludes details of the original waste producers, providing only facility-level transaction information.
• Dataset is limited to the calendar year 2021, requiring combination with other years for temporal trend analysis.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency (UK).

Collection Method

Mandatory annual returns submitted by operators of regulated waste management facilities.

Time Range

Calendar year 2021.

Freshness

Data covers 2021, with file corrections and updates published as recently as May 2024.

Geography

England, with data aggregated for England and former planning regions.