Little construction waste now dumped in landfills

The amount of construction debris dumped in landfills fell sharply over a period of seven years, after this kind of waste started to be deposited in disused quarries.

In 2000, 84 per cent of waste taken to landfills was from construction but this had dropped to two per cent in 2007.

However, the share of household solid waste dumped in landfills rose to 64 per cent in the same year.

The National Statistics Office, which released the figures, said this shift was due to changes in the waste disposal policy, under which non-hazardous mineral waste was diverted from public landfills to disused quarries and that generated by large construction projects was dumped at sea in permitted areas. There was another significant shift in waste patterns between 2002, when treated waste made up six per cent of managed solid waste (excluding the mineral and debris waste streams) and 2006, when treated waste rose to 17 per cent.

The NSO said the collection of separated waste gained momentum with the introduction of bring-in sites in 2003. This type of waste collection has been on the rise ever since, increasing threefold between 2004 and 2007.

In 2006, the first civic amenity site was opened and one year later three were in operation. These sites, which take in bulky waste from households, collected over 8,000 tonnes of waste in their first year of operation alone.