Waste disposal and unitary authorities landfilled 10.6Mt of biodegradable municipal waste in 2007/08, down 8% on 2006/07.
The result means that local government as a whole has already reduced landfilling to less than the maximum allowed in 2010 under EU law. However, 71 out of 121 councils need to take action to meet their individual obligations under the landfill allowance trading scheme (LATS) for 2009/10.
Environment minister, Jane Kennedy, said: ‘Local authorities are to be congratulated on the way they are tackling the diversion of waste from landfill. LATS gives them the flexibility in how they meet their allowances.’
Twelve authorities landfilled more in 2007/08 than allowed under LATS, but instead either used allocations that they had ‘banked,’ brought forward, or purchased from other authorities. Tower Hamlets landfilled 26% more than its allowance, but bought spare allowances from other councils.
Three regions currently have a deficit of landfilled waste against their 2009/10 allocations, the largest in northwest England, 170,000t, followed by 107,500t in the southwest.
But eight authorities have an individual surplus of at least 50,000t, including Hampshire County Council, Birmingham City Council, Staffordshire County Council and the North London Waste Authority.
Martin Brocklehurst, head of external waste programmes at the Environment Agency, said: ‘Even during these difficult market conditions, landfill should be the last resort for waste materials that we can’t immediately recover or recycle.’