Estimating the Generation of Garden Waste in England and the Differences between Rural and Urban Areas
Water and Environmental Engineering Group, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7QF, UK
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Resources 2020, 9(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9010008
Received: 29 November 2019 / Revised: 7 January 2020 / Accepted: 13 January 2020 / Published: 16 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underutilised Resources in Urban Environments)
Garden waste arising from private households represents a major component of the biodegradable municipal waste stream. To design effective waste valorisation schemes, detailed information about garden waste is a prerequisite. While the biochemical composition of this material is well documented, there is a lack of knowledge regarding both the quantities arising, and quantities entering the services operated by waste management authorities. This work studied the quantities of garden waste arisings at urban and rural households along with the disposal methods used. A door-to-door interview survey, an analysis of kerbside collections of garden waste, and an assessment of materials brought by citizens to a waste recycling site were carried out in Hampshire, UK. If extrapolated nationally, the results indicate that households in England produce an average of 0.79 kg of garden waste per day, or 288 kg per year. On a per capita basis, this corresponds to an annual arising of 120 kg per person, out of which around 70% enters the collection schemes of the waste management authorities. The quantity generated by rural and urban households differed substantially, with rural households producing 1.96 ± 1.35 kg per day and urban households 0.64 ± 0.46 kg per day. Rural households adopted self-sufficient methods of garden waste management such as home composting or backyard burning to a much greater extent compared with urban households. Less than half of the generated rural garden waste entered services operated by the waste collection authorities, while urban households strongly relied on these services. A detailed breakdown of the disposal routes chosen by urban and rural householders can support authorities in tailoring more effective waste management schemes.
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Keywords:
garden waste arising; green waste; yard waste; home composting; backyard burning; municipal and public service engineering
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MDPI and ACS Style
Eades, P.; Kusch-Brandt, S.; Heaven, S.; Banks, C.J. Estimating the Generation of Garden Waste in England and the Differences between Rural and Urban Areas. Resources 2020, 9, 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9010008
AMA Style
Eades P, Kusch-Brandt S, Heaven S, Banks CJ. Estimating the Generation of Garden Waste in England and the Differences between Rural and Urban Areas. Resources. 2020; 9(1):8. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9010008
Chicago/Turabian StyleEades, Paul; Kusch-Brandt, Sigrid; Heaven, Sonia; Banks, Charles J. 2020. "Estimating the Generation of Garden Waste in England and the Differences between Rural and Urban Areas" Resources 9, no. 1: 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9010008
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