East Yorkshire Declutters: Over 500 tonnes of DVDs, CDs and VHS tapes binned in just three months
The analysis, based on new figures from Waste Data Flow and compiled by AWM, shows that East Riding of Yorkshire Council recorded over 264 tonnes, while Hull City Council added another 233 tonnes, reflecting a dramatic shift in how people across East Yorkshire consume music, film, and gaming.
| Rank | Council/Authority | Tonnes of Media Disposed |
| 1 | West Sussex County Council | 325.063 |
| 2 | East Riding of Yorkshire Council | 264.375 |
| 3 | Kingston-upon-Hull City Council | 233.76 |
| 4 | Hillingdon LB | 191 |
| 5 | Leeds City Council MBC | 188.049 |
| 6 | Wandsworth LB | 150.98 |
| 7 | Buckinghamshire Council | 147.01 |
| 8 | Hampshire County Council | 93.42 |
| 9 | Hammersmith and Fulham LB | 80.69 |
| 10 | Lambeth LB | 74.61 |
This comes as part of a wider national trend that saw over 2,100 tonnes of physical media dumped by UK households between January and March 2024 equivalent in weight to more than 1,600 family cars.
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This trend could reflect a broader shift in how the nation consumes music, film, TV and gaming driven by:
- The convenience of on-demand streaming services
- Spring-cleaning and decluttering habits post-pandemic
- A generational shift away from physical collections
Speaking on the findings, Colin Hayes from AWM said:
“We all knew physical media was in decline, but these figures really show how fast it’s disappearing from our homes. Nearly 500 tonnes in East Riding and Hull is remarkable, that’s thousands of shelves being cleared and wardrobes emptied at a staggering rate.”
“There’s something sadly nostalgic about this shift. We’re not just streaming more, we’re physically saying goodbye to a whole era of how we watched, listened and collected.”