The latest waste figures from the construction industry give a mixed report on progress - the amount of waste going to landfill has dropped, but excavation waste has increased.

Since the baseline figure for construction and demolition waste going to landfill was established in 2008, levels have dropped by 1.87m tones.

The industry is on target to reduce these kinds of waste by half.

But excavation waste - mainly soil and stones - going to landfill has risen by 2.4m tonnes. The cause of the large rise is a mystery and is currently being investigated.

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One theory for the rise is changes in exemptions available under the new environmental permitting regulations that now have much lower tonnage thresholds for the reuse of soils and stones on construction sites.

Also, in 2010 there were a number of major projects producing large volumes of excavated material that could have had a significant impact on the data.

The industry, working collaboratively with Defra, the Environment Agency and WRAP through the Strategic Forum for Construction's Waste Subgroup, will be exploring in more depth the reasons for the soil and stones spike.

The Group, now a part of the UK Government's Green Construction Board, has been monitoring construction, demolition and excavation waste since 2008, as well as advising what actions are needed across the industry to be more efficient in the use of materials and to reduce waste to landfill.

Waste subgroup chairman Peter Johnson, said the group was "very pleased" with the progress but "naturally disappointed" at the increased in soils and stones being dumped at landfill.

(NE/GK)