# UK commercial waste statistics: Workplace Waste Statistics

> The median published figure in the Workplace Waste Statistics is 67 percent across 3 sources' own pages (range 46 to 79.80 percent), read 12 September 2026.

Workplace Recycling Rules · https://workplacerecyclingrules.co.uk/datasets/workplace-waste-statistics/ · computed 2026-10-05

**Median published figure:** 67 % (range 46 to 79.8 %; 3 sources with a figure; 3 of 13 sources read publish one).

3 of the 13 named sources read in full publish a figure; 10 publish none, read 12 September 2026.

## By nation

| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| nation GB-WLS | 73.4 % | 67 to 79.8 % | 2 |
| nation GB | 46 % | 46 to 46 % | 1 |

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Welsh Government: local authority municipal waste management, April 2024 to March 2025](https://www.gov.wales/local-authority-municipal-waste-management-april-2024-march-2025-html) | 79.8 % | GB-WLS | 2026-09-12 |
| [Natural Resources Wales: Industrial and Commercial Waste Survey](https://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/waste-reports/industrial-commercial-waste-survey/?lang=en) | 67 % | GB-WLS | 2026-09-12 |
| [WRAP: overview of waste in the hospitality and food service sector](https://www.wrap.ngo/resources/report/overview-waste-hospitality-and-food-service-sector) | 46 % | GB | 2026-09-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (3)

- [Welsh Government: local authority municipal waste management, April 2024 to March 2025](https://www.gov.wales/local-authority-municipal-waste-management-april-2024-march-2025-html), read 2026-09-12: "During the same period, the non-household recycling rate decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 79.8%."
- [Natural Resources Wales: Industrial and Commercial Waste Survey](https://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/waste-reports/industrial-commercial-waste-survey/?lang=en), read 2026-09-12: "The preparation for re-use, recycling & composting rate for industrial and commercial waste generated combined increased by 9 percentage points from 58% to 67%, while the land disposal rate decreased sharply, dropping from 26% to 11%"
- [WRAP: overview of waste in the hospitality and food service sector](https://www.wrap.ngo/resources/report/overview-waste-hospitality-and-food-service-sector), read 2026-09-12: "The total amount of waste, including food, packaging and other ‘non-food’ waste, produced each year at HaFS outlets is 2.87 million tonnes, of which 46% is recycled, sent to anaerobic digestion (AD) or composted."

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [Defra: UK waste data (statistics collection)](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data), read 2026-09-11: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Defra: local authority collected waste management, annual results 2024/25](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results-202425), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Defra: local authority collected waste management - annual results (series page)](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results), read 2026-09-11: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [data.gov.uk: UK Statistics on Waste dataset](https://ckan.publishing.service.gov.uk/dataset/uk_statistics_on_waste), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [SEPA: business waste data (Scotland)](https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/business-waste-data/), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Welsh Government: new stats show another increase in recycling in Wales](https://www.gov.wales/new-stats-show-another-increase-recycling-wales), read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [DAERA: commercial and industrial waste arising survey for Northern Ireland](https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/commercial-and-industrial-waste-arising-survey-northern-ireland), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [DAERA: Northern Ireland commercial and industrial waste estimates 2009](https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-commercial-industrial-ci-waste-estimates-2009), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [the four nations' statistical producers](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data), read 2026-09-11: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data), read 2026-09-11: read in full and no accepted figure on the page

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through the estate's fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 13 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 10 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 53 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one comparable series per nation for commercial and industrial waste generated and the share recycled, rebased onto a common year and a common definition, with the per-employee and per-workplace intensity derived by joining the arisings to the ONS business population - which none of the four statistical producers publishes, because each reports tonnes on its own survey cycle and none divides by the businesses that made them. Plus the Wales workplace-recycling series as the only natural experiment in the UK: the change in workplace recyclate collected since a separation duty started.

## Sources

- [Defra: UK waste data (statistics collection)](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Defra: local authority collected waste management, annual results 2024/25](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results-202425) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Defra: local authority collected waste management - annual results (series page)](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [data.gov.uk: UK Statistics on Waste dataset](https://ckan.publishing.service.gov.uk/dataset/uk_statistics_on_waste) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [SEPA: business waste data (Scotland)](https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/business-waste-data/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Natural Resources Wales: Industrial and Commercial Waste Survey](https://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/waste-reports/industrial-commercial-waste-survey/?lang=en) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Welsh Government: local authority municipal waste management, April 2024 to March 2025](https://www.gov.wales/local-authority-municipal-waste-management-april-2024-march-2025-html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Welsh Government: new stats show another increase in recycling in Wales](https://www.gov.wales/new-stats-show-another-increase-recycling-wales) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [DAERA: commercial and industrial waste arising survey for Northern Ireland](https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/commercial-and-industrial-waste-arising-survey-northern-ireland) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [DAERA: Northern Ireland commercial and industrial waste estimates 2009](https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-commercial-industrial-ci-waste-estimates-2009) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [WRAP: overview of waste in the hospitality and food service sector](https://www.wrap.ngo/resources/report/overview-waste-hospitality-and-food-service-sector) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [the four nations' statistical producers](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The median published figure in the Workplace Waste Statistics is 67 percent across 3 sources' own pages (range 46 to 79.80 percent), read 12 September 2026.
- 3 of the 13 named sources read in full publish a figure; 10 publish none, read 12 September 2026.
- Workplace Waste Statistics, nation GB-WLS: median 73.40 percent across 2 sources, read 12 September 2026.
- Workplace Waste Statistics, nation GB: median 46 percent across 1 source, read 12 September 2026.

Cite as: "workplacerecyclingrules.co.uk Workplace Waste Statistics", updated 2026-10-05, https://workplacerecyclingrules.co.uk/datasets/workplace-waste-statistics/.

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