All 22 councils in Wales have met targets on the amount of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) they can send to landfill sites, figures released this week reveal.

An Environment Agency Wales report, which covers the third full year of the Landfill Allowances Scheme (LAS), shows councils sent 680,912t of biodegradable waste to landfill in 2007/8, well within the allowance of 866,000t.

This means local authorities in Wales landfilled 21% less BMW than the allowances they were allocated, and are already below the 710,000t allocation set for the 2009/10 year, the first year the councils must report to the EU.

Overall, 50% of local authorities in 2007/8 used proportionately less of their allocated allowances compared with 2006/7.

Southwest Wales councils reached their targets with most room to spare, while North Wales councils were closest to the limits of their allowances.

Neath Port Talbot used 57%, Swansea and Conwy used 69%, and Bridgend 70% of its allowances.

However, three local authorities – Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire – used more than 90% of their allowances, and therefore, had the least headroom. While the success of the councils overall is noted, they are warned targets will only get tougher.

The report states: ‘Local authorities will need to step up the diversion of BMW from landfill to achieve the tough diversion targets of 2013 and 2020.

‘The second target year is only three years later, and with an allowance for Wales of only 470,000t, 66% of the first target year, it is essential that current progress is maintained and continually improved in future years.’ Councils will need to ‘maximise recycling and composting of municipal waste, and alternative residual waste treatment facilities to landfill’ to meet the future targets.