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Municipal waste: what are the options?

The table shows UK targets for the disposal of municipal wastes How would you dispose of the waste produced by a small town?		UK waste disposal targets
		2000	2010	2015
	Recycle or compost	10%	30%	33%
	Incineration with energy recovery	8%	15%	33%
	Landfill	82%	55%	34%

Choose the best option

Imagine that you are responsible for the waste of a small town.
Click onto the option which you think is the best way to dipsose of its municipal waste.

Recycling

Incineration with energy recovery

Landfill

Click here to rate the sustainability of each waste disposal option.

Recycling

Recycling is a good option. It helps to preserve natural resources and means less landfill.

However, it can be expensive. Recycling needs special waste collections from houses. It needs to be sorted, cleaned and then the different materials transported to the relevant recycling facilities.

Recycling costs are about £100 per tonne.

Recycle logo

You may need to increase the local council tax. This is not popular with the residents and will hit the poorest people the hardest.

Not all materials can be recycled. What will you do with the rest of the waste?Do you choose recycling?

Consider the other options as well.

Landfill

Landfill has been the way that waste has been disposed in the past.

It costs about £60 per tonne but the price is going up due to extra landfill tax being added by the Government

Landfill site

In your town, using landfill means that you can keep the council tax lower. This would be popular with the majority of people.

However, residents who live near the landfill site complain about the number of lorries going to the site. They also say that the site attracts pests like flocks of birds that feed off the rubbish.

Should you choose landfill?

Consider the other options as well.

Incineration with energy recovery

Incineration gets rid of the waste. It provides energy for heating and electricity.

It is also cheaper than recycling. Incineration costs are about £70 per tonne of waste.

Incinerator

The incinerator needs to be near the town and local residents have signed a petition to stop it being built. They object to the extra lorries bringing in wastes and also think the incinerator will give off dangerous emissions.

This is despite the fact that they will be offered cheap electricity and hot water for their central heating.

Should you incinerate the waste?

Click on the other options as well.