To find out more about what happens to the other materials we collect, please click on the following links.
What happens to your rubbish?
All the refuse that is put out for collection or thrown away at the Recycling Centres is sent to landfill sites.
How do we send our rubbish to landfill?
Refuse is collected from the front edge of people's properties and loaded into vehicles which compact the waste. The waste is then taken to the Council's Waste Transfer Station at Midland Road, Bath. At the Transfer Station, waste is transferred into large heavy duty containers where it is compacted further. Each container can hold just over 13 tonnes of waste.
We send our waste by road to Shortwood Landfill Site in South Gloucestershire, Dimmer Landfill Site in Somerset and Hemmings Landfill Site in Calne, Wiltshire .
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What is the problem with landfill?
Landfill sites can produce gases such as methane that contributes to climate change in addition to the loss of energy and resources from all the materials that have been thrown away.
Furthermore we are running out of landfill sites, particularly in the South West.
To discourage rubbish from being sent to landfill, a landfill tax is charged for every tonne of rubbish that goes there. This currently stands at £56 per tonne (2011/12).
Under the European Landfill Directive, Local Authorities also have targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill. Biodegradable waste is waste that rots and is the main cause of greenhouse gases within landfills.
If we fail to meet these targets we could potentially be fined £150 for every tonne of material that exceeds our targets.
If we continue to dispose at present rates, we could be facing fines of up to £15 million by 2020. These are costs that have to be paid through our Council Tax.