Sunderland named as 'most wasteful' place outside London

Sunderland has been ranked as "the most wasteful city outside of London", with a waste output of almost 4,000 kg per household over five years.

According to consumer magazine Idealo, the city's households have increased waste over the same period by 10.5% making a total of 3,904.5 kg of waste per household with only 29.8% of it recycled. For perspective, an average sized petrol car weighs around 1,600 kg.

In second place is Reading in Berkshire, where households have produced 3,170.7 kg of waste.

There are also been 38 incidents of fly-tipping per 1,000 people in Sunderland; even though residential properties in the city can currently receive free bulky waste collections.

Nottingham is the worst location for fly-tipping, excluding London, with 65 incidents per 1,000 people, followed by Liverpool on 47.

However, these numbers are considerably lower than in London where the local authority area of the City of London is on 276 - seven times worse than in Sunderland, Westminster 145 and Camden with 144 make up England's worst top fly-tipping hotspots.

Stratford-Upon-Avon is named as the "least wasteful town in England outside of London" with 2,360 kg of waste and just three fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 people. Fareham has even fewer instances of fly-tipping with two per thousand people; even though both local authorities charge residents to remove their bulky waste.

In Sunderland reusing, recycling or composting has fallen by 17% over the five years.

Katy Phillips, senior brand & communications manager from Idealo, says: “Having an organic waste bin, a recycling bin, and a general bin is one of the simplest, but often overlooked, methods to be more mindful of waste.

“Another option is to get your own compost bin to put outside. Here, you can put things like fruit and vegetable scraps, plants, eggshells, paper and cardboard, which will break down over time into soil.

“Another way to more sustainably deal with household waste is to cut down waste at the source, buying fewer single-use items.”

For more information on booking bulky waste removal and what to do with household waste, visit the Sunderland City Council website.

There is also no excuse for dropping litter and people have been fined.