The Local Council Report / WasteDataFlow / Landfill share (%) · markdown view

Landfill share (%)

percent · extracted · council-year

This is the percentage of the area's waste that ends up buried in landfill rather than recycled, composted or burned for energy. Landfill is generally the worst destination — it wastes materials, produces climate-warming methane, and incurs landfill tax — so lower is better, and many councils are now near zero. A high figure suggests the council still lacks better disposal routes. It is only reported for councils that actually handle disposal, so many collection-only councils show no value.

councils
314
median
0
q1
0
q3
0.38
min
0
max
48.9

Distribution

030.69

Worst 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Essex County Councilcounty48.91st worst of 22
Cambridgeshire County Councilcounty44.32nd worst of 22
Lancashire County Councilcounty34.73rd worst of 22
Leicester City Councilunitary31.71st worst of 62
Westmorland and Furness Councilunitary23.92nd worst of 62
Darlington Borough Councilunitary22.63rd worst of 62
Blackpool Borough Councilunitary18.54th worst of 62
Luton Borough Councilunitary18.35th worst of 62
Cumberland Councilunitary15.36th worst of 62
Reading Borough Councilunitary14.67th worst of 62

Best 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Havant Borough Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Ashfield District Councildistrict0161st best of 161
South Norfolk Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Norwich City Councildistrict0161st best of 161
North Norfolk District Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Great Yarmouth Borough Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Broadland District Councildistrict0161st best of 161
Breckland Councildistrict0161st best of 161
West Lindsey District Councildistrict0161st best of 161

Definition

namelandfill_share_pct
dataset12-wastedataflow
kindextracted
typenumeric
unitpercent
graincouncil-year
roleoutcome
sourceLA_and_Regional_Spreadsheet_2024-25.ods, sheet Table_3, column 'Percentage of municipal waste sent to landfill (Ex NI193)'
period2014-15 to 2024-25
missingnessOnly populated for authorities with disposal responsibility; shown as '-' for pure collection authorities. This is the key collection-vs-disposal comparability caveat for this variable.
score_noteClear diversion outcome but only populated for authorities with disposal responsibility.
calculated../calculated/landfill-share-pct.csv
calculated_rows2042
calculated_periods2010-11 to 2024-25
calculated_date2026-08-13
peer_groupdistricts (n=161), unitaries (n=65), metropolitan boroughs (n=36), London boroughs (n=33), counties (n=27) — scored within each class against its median/IQR

Share of municipal waste sent to landfill (ex-NI193); lower indicates more diversion to recycling or energy-from-waste. Only meaningful for unitary and disposal authorities, since pure collection authorities have no disposal responsibility. Absolute landfilled tonnes are in Table_2 column 'Landfilled' if needed.