US landfill sites 'receiving less waste' during recession

Landfill sites in the US are receiving less domestic waste as people increasingly make better use of their existing possessions and repair their belongings rather than buy new ones amid the recession.

The Press Association reports that landfill sites are dealing with this reduction by cutting costs in other areas - including making redundancies, raising fees and reducing their opening hours.

Restaurant waste, packaging from newly bought products and less material from construction sites are all contributing to the problem, it added.

However, some eco-friendly organisations are viewing this as a positive point, including director of the environmental quality program for the Sierra Club.

He told the agency "that will mean the landfills will last longer. That is good for that public because nobody likes to live next to a landfill".

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, around 230,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was sent to landfill in the UK last year as refuse collectors did not accept it due to contamination, it was reported.