Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The principal aim of the project was to investigate the socio-economic factors that determine recycling rates across local authorities in the UK and why recycling rates vary. To achieve this, the project objectives were to:

• (i) provide a theoretical framework for economic determinants of the proportion of waste recycled as an aggregate quantity and differentiated by material type;
• (ii) construct a panel dataset covering all local authorities;
• (iii) establish the statistical significance of all the variables expected to have explanatory power through panel data econometric analysis;
• (iv) carry out sensitivity tests to validate the model;
• (v) draw implications for recycling policy both at local and national level.

The data deposited at the UK Data Archive comprise the panel dataset described above. Source data used to construct the dataset were taken from the WasteDataFlow website, a web-based system for municipal waste data reporting by UK local authorities to government, where they are used by the Department for Environmental and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and other departments to produce statistics. Office for National Statistics data on regional socio-economic characteristics were also used.

Further information about the project may be found on the ESRC's Examining the variation in household recycling rates across the UK award webpage.


Main Topics:

The data cover waste collection, waste disposal and recycling rates across local authorities.