# The household footprint we can see

> Bins, meters and certificates reveal parts of urban consumption—never the whole footprint.

- Category: Environment
- Canonical: [https://londongraph.com/story/the-household-footprint-we-can-see](https://londongraph.com/story/the-household-footprint-we-can-see)
- Machine-readable record: [https://londongraph.com/data/story/the-household-footprint-we-can-see](https://londongraph.com/data/story/the-household-footprint-we-can-see)
- Latest contributing release: 2026-08-01T15:25:20.998Z

Municipal waste, domestic energy meters and EPC lodgements are unusually visible administrative traces. They can describe local systems, but imported consumption and private disposal remain largely outside the frame.

## Evidence

### Household recycling

The published household recycling percentage by borough.

- The dataset is not available on this deployment; no value is substituted.
- Dataset: `recycling-by-borough`
- Explore: [recycling-by-borough](https://londongraph.com/g/recycling-by-borough)

### Waste destinations

Recorded recycling, incineration, landfill and other tonnage shares.

- Current computed headline: Incinerated / energy recovery — 0.65 share of managed tonnage (Incinerated / energy recovery)
- Recycled / composted: 0.29 share of managed tonnage
- Release: 2024-25
- Dataset: `where-londons-waste-goes`
- Explore: [where-londons-waste-goes](https://londongraph.com/g/where-londons-waste-goes)

### Electricity per meter

Mean domestic electricity consumption per meter by borough.

- The dataset is not available on this deployment; no value is substituted.
- Dataset: `home-energy-use-by-borough`
- Explore: [home-energy-use-by-borough](https://londongraph.com/g/home-energy-use-by-borough)

### Lodged EPC trend

The changing share of lodged certificates in higher efficiency bands.

- Current computed headline: 2026 — 69.2 % rated C or better (2026)
- Comparison: unavailable
- Release: not labelled
- Dataset: `epc-over-time`
- Explore: [homes-are-getting-warmer](https://londongraph.com/g/homes-are-getting-warmer)

## Interpretation

This is not a consumption-based carbon footprint. Waste routes, meters and EPC records cover different systems and omit many emissions embodied outside London.

Every numerical claim is computed from the current versioned datasets at render time. Missing data is reported as missing rather than replaced.

## Sources

- [Defra](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-collected-waste-management-annual-results)
- [DESNZ](https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sub-national-electricity-consumption-data)
- [EPC register (MHCLG)](https://get-energy-performance-data.communities.gov.uk/)