Dataset 12 — WasteDataFlow / Local authority collected waste management (Defra)

Publisher and landing pages

• Publisher: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Statistics are derived from local authorities' quarterly WasteDataFlow returns.
• Official statistics landing page: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results
• Raw WasteDataFlow extracts on data.gov.uk: https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/0e0c12d8-24f6-461f-b4bc-f6d6a5bf2de5/wastedataflow-local-authority-waste-management

Files downloaded (in data/)

From the gov.uk annual results page (2024/25 edition, published 31 March 2026 — final results):

1. WFH_England_Data_202425.ods (49 KB) — Waste from households, England data. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a26b66ff902f454434b/WFH_England_Data_202425.ods
2. LA_and_Regional_Spreadsheet_2024-25.ods (2.0 MB) — per-local-authority waste generation, recycling rates, residual waste; England, regions and LA level. Primary per-council file. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a6578ca1aa5a63609c3/LA_and_Regional_Spreadsheet_2024-25.ods
3. Statistics_on_Waste_Management_by_Local_Authorities_Statistical_Release_Figures_and_Tables_Dataset.ods (23 KB) — release figures and tables. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a8c43217762153609b9/Statistics_on_Waste_Management_by_Local_Authorities_Statistical_Release_Figures_and_Tables_Dataset.ods

Raw WasteDataFlow CSV extracts from Defra's S3 bucket (linked from the data.gov.uk record; updated 31 March 2026 for 2024-25): 4. Waste_Collection_data_England_2024-25.csv (22 MB) — full question-level returns (question/row/column format, incl. Q001 population, tonnages by material), per authority per quarter, 2024-25. 323 English authorities. https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Waste+Collection+data+England+2024-25.csv 5. Q100_Waste_Collection_data_England_2024-25.csv (81 MB) — Q100 waste-processor/output-level data, 2024-25. https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Q100+Waste+Collectink+data+England+2024-25.csv NOTE: the URL genuinely contains the typo "Collectink" — the correctly spelled URL returns S3 AccessDenied. 6. Q100_Waste_Collection_data_England_2023-24.csv (76 MB) — prior-year Q100 data (v2, revised 27 March 2025 to include Bristol City Council). https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Q100+Waste+Collection+data+England+2023-24v2.csv

Granularity, coverage, period

• Granularity: per local authority (waste collection authorities, disposal authorities and unitaries); raw CSVs are per authority per quarter per question/material.
• Coverage: England (the annual release also carries UK-level recycling-explainer figures; the LA-level files are England only). 323 authorities in the 2024-25 collection CSV.
• Period: financial year 2024/25 (final), plus 2023/24 Q100 prior year. Historical CSVs back to 2005-06 are listed on the data.gov.uk record.

Refresh cadence

• Annual accredited official statistics release, typically each spring covering the previous financial year (2024/25 final results published 31 March 2026; next edition, 2025/26, expected ~March 2027). Underlying WasteDataFlow returns are quarterly; the S3 CSVs are refreshed with the annual release and occasionally revised (e.g. 2023/24 v2).

Re-download

cd data
curl -sLO https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a26b66ff902f454434b/WFH_England_Data_202425.ods
curl -sLO https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a6578ca1aa5a63609c3/LA_and_Regional_Spreadsheet_2024-25.ods
curl -sLO https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c68a8c43217762153609b9/Statistics_on_Waste_Management_by_Local_Authorities_Statistical_Release_Figures_and_Tables_Dataset.ods
curl -sL -o Waste_Collection_data_England_2024-25.csv "https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Waste+Collection+data+England+2024-25.csv"
curl -sL -o Q100_Waste_Collection_data_England_2024-25.csv "https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Q100+Waste+Collectink+data+England+2024-25.csv"
curl -sL -o Q100_Waste_Collection_data_England_2023-24.csv "https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Waste/Q100+Waste+Collection+data+England+2023-24v2.csv"

Licence

• UK Open Government Licence (OGL) — stated on the data.gov.uk record; gov.uk statistical releases are Crown copyright under OGL v3.0.

Caveats

• Raw CSVs carry the header "This file contains data (subject to change) for the selected authorities and periods only if returns have been completed" — authorities with incomplete returns may be missing for some quarters.
• 2023/24 data was revised (v2) to add Bristol City Council, which was missing from the original release.
• The raw CSVs are question-level WasteDataFlow extracts, not tidy tables: analysis needs pivoting on QuestionNumber/RowText/ColText. The gov.uk LA_and_Regional_Spreadsheet ODS is the cleaned per-council product.
• Note: WasteDataFlow covers tonnages and recycling, not costs. Cost per collection needs joining to MHCLG Revenue Outturn (RO5) environmental services spend.
• The WasteDataFlow portal itself (wastedataflow.org) is a JS query interface; it was not needed — gov.uk and Defra S3 direct downloads sufficed. No browser access was required.