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Yes—but the more-than-half reduction refers to reported illegal-dumping incidents involving construction, demolition and excavation (CDE) waste in England, not to the amount of construction waste produced. SiteStak’s analysis of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) records, reported by Installer Online, found a 54.55% fall over the preceding five years and a 23.27% fall in the latest year. The accessible report does not identify the calculation’s exact endpoint years or publish the underlying incident counts, so the percentage should be treated as a reported trend in incidents rather than a complete measure of waste generation.
What did the 54.55% reduction actually measure?
It measured the number of CDE illegal-dumping incidents recorded in England. The Environment Agency defines illegal dumping as “the illegal deposit of liquid or solid waste on land, not covered by a permit or exemption.” In this context, an incident is a report of waste deposited without the required permit or exemption; it is not a weighbridge measurement of tonnes generated by the construction sector.
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SiteStak analysed Defra records and reported a 54.55% reduction across five years, plus a 23.27% reduction in the most recent year covered by its analysis. Because the publicly accessible account does not show the starting and ending years or incident totals, readers cannot independently derive the percentage from that report alone. The Environment Agency’s underlying illegal-dumping release covers incidents reported from January 2011 to March 2021, but that coverage does not establish the undisclosed endpoints used for the five-year comparison.
Does this mean England produces 54.55% less construction waste?
No. Illegal-dumping incidents, waste generation, landfill disposal and recovery are different measures. A fall in reported dumping can reflect changes in enforcement, reporting, site controls, transport and disposal behaviour without an equivalent fall in the quantity of material generated.
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Defra’s latest official construction-and-demolition (C&D) series estimates that England generated 63.3 million tonnes in 2024 and recovered 60.3 million tonnes, a 95.3% recovery rate. That series excludes excavation waste, whereas the 54.55% incident figure explicitly concerns construction, demolition and excavation waste. The two figures therefore cannot be combined into one national trend.
How do the main construction-waste figures differ?
The geography, waste definition, unit and denominator must be read together. The following figures describe separate datasets rather than points on a single line.
| Figure | What it measures | Scope and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 54.55% reduction | Illegal-dumping incident count | England; CDE waste; five-year comparison reported from SiteStak’s analysis of Defra records; endpoint years and counts not stated in the accessible report |
| 23.27% reduction | Illegal-dumping incident count | England; CDE waste; latest year in the same analysis |
| 63.3 million tonnes | C&D waste generated | England, 2024 Defra estimate; excavation waste excluded; Defra says the absolute tonnage estimate has relatively high uncertainty |
| 60.3 million tonnes / 95.3% | C&D waste recovered and recovery rate | England, 2024; recovery calculated from generation minus landfill in Defra’s methodology; excavation excluded |
| 230 to 103 incidents | Illegal-dumping incidents across all waste types | Environment Agency remit; 2019–20 versus 2023–24; not a CDE-specific series |
What does the latest official C&D data say about recovery?
Defra’s 2024 estimate indicates that most measured C&D waste was recovered, but the result is not a direct recycling-only rate. The series calculates recovery as generation minus landfill for England and relies on permitted sites, simple registrations, aggregate-production data and assumptions about waste treated across borders. Defra warns that the absolute tonnage estimates carry relatively high uncertainty, so the 95.3% figure should be read as a modelled recovery estimate for the defined series, not as proof that every construction material was recycled into an equivalent product.
Are companies and industry benchmarks showing the same decline?
Some company and benchmark datasets report substantial reductions, but each uses a different baseline or intensity denominator.
Willmott Dixon’s company baseline
Willmott Dixon reported 49,926 cubic metres of construction waste in 2023 and said project waste was 57% below its 2012 baseline. It also reported that 98.1% of non-hazardous construction waste was diverted from landfill in 2023. Diversion from landfill is a disposal outcome; it is not a 98.1% reduction in the amount of waste generated.
BRE SmartWaste intensity measures
BRE’s SmartWaste 2026 benchmark covers 4,791 projects worth £34 billion from 2016 to 2025. It reports a 28% decrease in construction waste per £100,000 of project value over the decade, while waste per 100 square metres increased by more than 10%. The opposing results show why productivity, project mix and the selected denominator can change the apparent direction of a trend.
Historical landfill context
A 2021 report from the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight cited approximately 5 million tonnes—8% of non-hazardous C&D waste—sent to landfill in 2016. That is historical context and should not be presented as a current national estimate or as evidence for the 54.55% incident reduction.
Why can incident counts fall while waste tonnage does not?
Incident records capture detected or reported events, not every illegal deposit and not lawful waste handled through the system. Better gate controls, registered carriers, digital transfer notes, enforcement activity and reporting practices can alter the incident series. Construction output can also rise or fall independently of dumping reports, while excavated soil and other materials may be treated under different classifications.
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For that reason, a responsible comparison should specify:
- Geography: England, the wider UK, a company or a project portfolio.
- Waste definition: CDE, non-hazardous C&D, all regulated waste or another category.
- Metric: incidents, tonnes, cubic metres, landfill disposal, recovery or waste intensity.
- Denominator: a baseline year, project value, floor area or another activity measure.
- Time window and source methodology, including whether figures are reported, modelled or audited.
What should builders and clients take from the headline?
The headline is encouraging evidence that reported CDE dumping incidents in England have declined, but it is not a statement that the industry now generates half as much waste. For project decisions, track waste at source, set reduction targets before disposal, record material by stream and report both absolute quantities and an intensity measure such as tonnes per project value or floor area. Keep recovery and landfill-diversion rates alongside generation, because a high diversion rate can coexist with excessive material use.
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Stuart Blofeld, senior lead trainer at SmartWaste, summarised the distinction: “You can’t just focus on waste diversion from landfill. The amount of actual waste generated has a far greater impact, both environmentally and financially.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the 54.55% figure for the whole UK?
No. The reported calculation is England-specific. It should not be extended to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or the UK as a whole without a comparable dataset for each jurisdiction.
Does the Environment Agency’s 103-incident figure prove CDE dumping fell by the same amount?
No. The 103 incidents recorded in 2023–24, compared with 230 in 2019–20, cover all waste types within the regulator’s remit. They cannot substitute for the CDE-specific calculation.
Why does Defra exclude excavation waste from its tonnage series?
Defra’s current C&D series is defined without excavation waste, so its generation and recovery estimates use a narrower material scope than the CDE incident series. This difference prevents a direct percentage comparison.
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Use absolute tonnes or cubic metres to control total material, then add an intensity measure such as waste per £100,000 of project value or per 100 square metres. Reporting both avoids hiding growth behind a changing project size.
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