Recycling and residual waste 

Across England, the average household produces around 833kg of waste each year, including approximately 179kg of dry recycling and around 499kg of residual waste. 

For a typical two-person household, that equates to roughly: 

• 14.5kg of waste per week 

• 3.4kg of dry recycling 

• 9.6kg of residual waste 

In the Vale of White Horse, households recycle even more. The average household records around 186kg of dry recycling per year, slightly higher than the England average. 

What is particularly interesting is that CircleUp households are recording very similar levels of recycling. The current participant cohort averages around 185kg of recyclable material per household per year, almost identical to the Vale average. 

One of the strongest findings from the project so far is that recycling is the largest waste stream for most participating households.  

Reflect on your results: 

• Is recycling your largest waste stream? 

• Are you capturing all the recyclable materials you can? 

• Has your residual waste reduced since the project started? 

• Are there items in your recycling bin that could be avoided, reused, repaired, borrowed or shared instead? 

While recycling helps recover materials and reduce the need for new resources, the biggest environmental benefits usually come from preventing waste in the first place. As you review your waste data, consider: what could be avoided, reused, repaired, borrowed or shared before it reaches the recycling bin at all? 

Food waste 

Across the UK, households throw away around 6 million tonnes of food every year, and around 73% of that food could have been eaten. On average, that's around 88kg of food waste per person each year, or around 1.7kg per person per week - that's approximately the weight of 17 bananas!

So far, CircleUp participants in Wantage and Grove have weighed more than 650kg of food waste. Food waste currently accounts for around 25% of all waste measured in the project, with 656kg of food waste recorded out of 2,625kg measured overall. 

The typical CircleUp household records around 1.8-2kg of food waste per week, but households have also seen this as low as 0.56kg and as high as 2.51kg.  

Preventing avoidable food waste remains the priority. There will always be some unavoidable food waste, such as eggshells, tea bags and fruit or vegetable peelings, but edible food going to waste has environmental and financial costs.  

How to avoid wasting edible food: 

• How much of the food your household throws away could have been eaten? 

• Which foods end up in your food waste most often? 

• Could a shopping list, meal plan or freezer habit help reduce that waste? 

Understanding the data 

One of the most interesting parts of CircleUp is the opportunity to compare household waste data with local and national trends. However, it's important to remember that the data has limitations. 

Our dataset currently covers around 20 weeks of measurements, and not all waste weighing records have yet been uploaded. Household size also has a major impact on waste volumes, making comparisons between households difficult. 

Waste is highly seasonal and often changes during: 

• School holidays 

• Christmas and New Year 

• Summer harvest periods 

• Other times when routines or household size change 

Comparisons with national data also need to be treated carefully. Waste is collected and measured differently across the country, with some councils collecting food waste separately, some collecting food and garden waste together, and some not yet offering separate food waste collections. Oxfordshire also sends very little residual waste to landfill because waste is processed through the Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Ardley. 

For these reasons, we should be cautious about making comparisons, but the most valuable comparison is often with your own previous results. 

How does your household compare? 

As you review your waste weighing data, ask yourself: 

• Am I producing less waste overall? 

• Am I recycling a greater proportion of my waste? 

• Am I wasting less food? 

• Have I noticed any seasonal patterns? 

• Which waste streams have changed the most? 

• What habits might be contributing to those changes? 

By continuing to weigh your waste, you're helping build a better understanding of household waste in Wantage and Grove, while also gaining valuable insights into your own habits and progress over time. 

Small changes are often difficult to notice day-to-day, but over weeks and months the data can help reveal how habits are changing and where further opportunities to reduce waste might exist.