What are landfill sites?
Most of the waste produced in England and Wales is sent to landfill. In the past it was easy to dispose of waste this way, as it was cheap, and space was often available in old quarries. Space approved for landfill is set to run out in the next five to ten years. Each landfill site is licensed to receive a certain type of waste. The Thames and Southern regions have relatively few landfill sites compared to its high population. This means that more waste has to be transported to landfill sites in other regions. About two-thirds of landfilled waste is biodegradable organic matter from households, businesses and industry. In 2007/08 about 15.5 million tonnes of municipal waste, most of which is household waste, was sent to landfill (Figure 1). Other waste sent to landfill includes inert materials; for example, from construction and demolition. Biodegradable materials such as paper and card, textiles, food and garden waste decompose and release the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxi
