As a modern waste disposal company we are very much aware of the environmental issues facing future generations, especially when it comes to solid waste disposal. This page contains useful facts and figures about the waste we all produce and how this can be minimised.

Environmental Facts about Waste

In a lifetime, the average person will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in rubbish. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of 40,000 kg of waste for their children.

Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 350 kg a year.

Enough energy is saved by recycling one aluminium can to run a TV set for three hours or to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.

Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fibrefill to stuff a ski jacket.

Every year the UK produces 38 million tonnes of household, school and office waste, 78% of which is landfilled, 9% incinerated and about 13% recycled.

Every year we need a forest the size of Wales to provide all the paper we use in Britain.

The volume of waste produced in the UK every 12 hours could fill the Millennium Stadium.

The Landfill Directive
The Landfill Directive is a piece of European Legislation that governs the future use of landfill as a means of disposal. By setting quite stringent targets for reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, the Directive aims to achieve the following:

By 2010 to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 75% of that produced in 1995.
By 2013 to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 50% of that produced in 1995.
By 2020 to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled to 35% of that produced in 1995.

Environmental Management

As a waste management company, Amgen Cymru is focused on the protection of the environment through effective pollution control and environmental monitoring.

The company operates its waste facilities under relevant waste licensing and environmental protection regulations, as regulated by the Environment Agency. Through the implementation of these regulations, a series of environmental control measures the Environmental Management System) are provided by the company in order to reduce the risk of pollution from waste substances and protect the local environment.

A good example of this is the landfill emissions (potentially malodorous) generated within the landfill, these are controlled through the construction of a low permeability capping system over the surface of the landfill. This is further supplemented with a series of landfill gas extractions wells and high-temperature flaring and /or power generation through a landfill gas spark ignition engine.

The company carries out frequent environmental monitoring to ensure that the environmental management systems are working effectively. The results from these activities are forwarded to the Environment Agency and used to assess any potential impact on the environment.