Greater Manchester Waste

did you know?


		Every year, 8 billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets and shops. This is equivalent to over 130 bags for every person in the UK. These will take up to 450 years to degrade.

		A forest as big as Wales is needed every year to supply all the paper for the UK.

		The average person throws away 74kgs of organic waste a year, equivalent to 1077 banana skins.

		3.2 billion aluminium cans are still going into landfill (approximately 50,000 tonnes), equivalent to burying the Titanic every year.

Environmental Improvement Projects

GMW has been involved in a number of environmental improvement projects in partnership with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority and Enventure Limited. Areas of land, formerly used as landfill space, have been highlighted as being in need of restoration. The soil quality and depth has been insufficient to sustain tree growth over a long period of time.

Independent reports have highlighted the need to increase the soil profile up to a metre on a number of these sites. A top soil or soil making material is required, which will be nutrient rich and capable of supporting plant growth.

A significant proportion of municipal solid waste originates from the kitchen and garden and has a high organic content. These components of the waste stream are nutrient rich and capable of supporting plant growth. Greater Manchester Waste Limited is able to extract this organic fraction from over 800,000 tonnes of collected household waste handled each year at the company's Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). This organic fraction can be reprocessed to produce a soil making material, which can be further refined to produce a quality compost.

In addition, green waste is collected at 29 household waste recycling centres throughout the region. This is passed through an agricultural shredder, capable of processing up to 40 tonnes per hour, to create an organic mulch. It is high in nutrients and acts as a weed suppressant when spread on the ground.