Facts and figures about rubbish and recycling
A third of food grown for human consumption in the UK ends up being thrown away. 8.5 million new, perfectly good toys are thrown away every year in the UK. Over 20% of household rubbish is paper and card which can be recycled. Here are some more facts and figures about rubbish and recycling in East Sussex.
Did you know?
In 2022/23 in East Sussex:
- we achieved an overall recycling rate of 41% (household waste)
- we only landfilled 0.68% of our black bag waste
- On average, each household in East Sussex produces around 0.533 tonnes of black bag/thrown away rubbish which isn't recycled.
Targets
We have set targets for managing our waste. They can be found in the Communities, Economy and Transport Department Portfolio Plan. See our portfolio plans.
What is in our rubbish?
Our household waste, that is either disposed of or recycled, is made up of the following:
- Organic material (garden waste, kitchen waste – cooked and uncooked) 34.22%
- Paper and card 20.56%
- Other (fines, miscellaneous non combustibles – building rubble stone, miscellaneous combustible – disposable nappies, sanitary towels, bottle cork, other) 14%
- Glass 7.12%
- Plastic 7.67%
- Metal (ferrous, non ferrous) 4.87%
- Wood 4.60%
- Textiles 3.01%
- Miscellaneous (large household items, black bags, electrical, ceramics, hazardous, oil) 2.51%
- Soil and rubble 1.82%
How much do we recycle?
In East Sussex during 2022/23, 41% of household waste was recycled or composted.
Household waste recycling site performance
The overall household waste recycling site recycling rate in East Sussex for 2022/23 was 46% (household waste). This has increased over the years through implementing improvements at the sites which has increased capacity for more recyclable materials.
The highest household waste recycling rate was achieved by Seaford household waste recycling site, which recycled 56% of household waste.
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