Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

e-mail contact: ESTAT-CIRCULAR-ECONOMY@ec.europa.eu

The Sankey diagrams show the flows of materials as they pass through the EU economy and are eventually discharged back into the environment or re-fed into the economic processing.

Three existing statistical data sources are employed to compile the different flows of the diagram (see also section 18.1): waste statistics, international trade in goods statistics and economy-wide material flow accounts.

Flows of waste are approximated using European waste statistics collected under Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002. 

European statistics on international trade in goods (ITGS) are used to approximate total imports and exports as well as for the net-imports of waste destined for recycling.

Economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA) provide an aggregate overview, in thousand tonnes per year, of the material flows into and out of an economy. 

EW-MFA record physical flows of materials broken down by type of flow – e.g. domestic extraction (i.e. natural input), domestic processed output (i.e. residual), imports and exports (i.e. product) and by type of material. The breakdown by type of material employs a classification of materials which is addressed in this section. The classification of materials MF.1 to MF.6 is mentioned in the legal base of EW-MFA, namely Regulation (2011) 691, Annex III.

Domestic processed outputs are hierarchically classified. Five categories are distinguished at 2-digit level, from MF7.1 to MF7.5. The final category (MF.8) is for the balancing items on the input and output side.

On the basis of the treatment operations defined in the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC a distinction is made in waste management operations:

Recovery: Recycling (RCV_R); Backfilling (RCV_B); Energy recovery (RCV_E).

Disposal: Incineration (DSP_I); Landfill (DSP_L); Other (DSP_OTH).

The data refer to the national economies of the EU Member States and the aggregated EU economy.

Three existing statistical data sources are employed to create the Sankey diagram: waste statistics, international trade in goods statistics, and economy-wide material flow accounts.

Conceptually economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA) belong to the international system of environmental economic accounting (SEEA-Central Framework). Furthermore, EW-MFA is one of several physical modules of Eurostat's programme on European environmental economic accounts. It is covered by Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.

EW-MFA are closely related to concepts and definitions of national accounts. Most notably they follow the residence principle, i.e. they record material flows related to resident unit's activities, regardless where those occur geographically.

Waste flows are approximated using European waste statistics collected under Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002. 

European statistics on international trade in goods (ITGS) are used to approximate the imports and exports of waste destined for recycling. The methodology applied for these corrections is consistent with those for other waste management indicators derived from waste statistics Regulation.

The creation of the data set requires the identification of a list of CN codes to approximate the imports and exports for recycling (see list of CN-codes used).

Statistical units changes according to the different data sources.

Not applicable.

Data are presented for all EU Member States, plus United Kingdom.

EU aggregate is also available.

Presented time series starts in 2010.

Not applicable.

• Thousand tonnes
• Tonnes per capita

Calendar year.

Economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA) are legally covered by Regulation (EU) 691/2011 on European Environmental Economic Accounts.

Waste statistics used are based on Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics.

International trade in goods statistics used are legally based on:

Extra-EU trade legislation: Regulation (EC) No 471/2009.

Intra-EU trade legislation: Regulation (EC) No 638/2004.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidential data are flagged 'c' and not published. For aggregates of confidential data Eurostat's rules for confidentiality are respected.

There is no release calendar; data dissemination is explained in item 9 below.

No particular provisions.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat´s website (see item 10 - ´Accessibility and clarity´) respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Data are up-dated and disseminated at least once every second year when data on waste treatment becomes available.

Not available.

Commission Staff Working Document. Measuring progress towards circular economy in the European Union – Key indicators for a monitoring framework

Eurostat, Circular material use rate — Calculation method

Eurostat, Statistics Explained: Circular economy - material flows

Eurostat's online database Material flows for circular economy - Sankey diagram data (env_ac_sd)

Not applicable.

Eurostat, Dedicated Section on Circular Economy

Eurostat, Dedicated Section. International trade in goods

Eurostat, Statistics Explained: Resource productivity statistics

Eurostat, Statistics Explained: Material flow accounts and resource productivity

Eurostat, Statistics Explained: Waste statistics

Eurostat, Statistics Explained. International trade in goods statistics - background

Detailed information on the methodology is planned to be documented in a methodological report.

Not available.

The underpinning data sources have their own specific quality assurance procedures.

Quality management is good.

The users include policy makers in environmental ministries, environmental organisations, researchers, students and interested citizens.

The circular economy aims at increasing the amount of material recovered and fed back into the economy, therefore reducing the generation of waste and limiting the extraction of primary raw materials.

Not available.

Data are complete for mandatory tables of EW-MFA questionnaire. The waste treatment dataset has a high level of completeness, but it is only published in even years. Data for all Member States and EU aggregates are available starting from the year 2010. In case of missing data, Eurostat gap-fills the missing information.

The overall accuracy is considered to be good.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Within two years after the reference period.

Not available.

Due to the common definitions and classifications the comparability over the countries is good.

The comparability over time is good due to clear statistical concepts and definitions. Revisions in methodology are usually applied backwards to the entire time series.

Not applicable.

The internal coherence is very high.

The cost and burden are low due to the level of automation.

Eurostat publishes the complete time series, which may lead to revisions of data previously published.

Not applicable.

The flows are calculated using three European statistics:

(1) Treatment of waste by waste category, hazardousness and waste operations (env_wastrt) collected on the basis of the Waste Statistics Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002,

(2) Economy-wide material flow accounts:

     Dataset 'material flow accounts' (env_ac_mfa).

     Dataset 'material flow accounts - domestic processed output' (env_ac_mfadpo).

     Dataset 'material flow accounts - balancing items' (env_ac_mfabi).

     Dataset 'material flow accounts - main indicators' (env_ac_mfain):

(3) International trade in goods statistics (comext). 

Data are collected annually for the economy-wide material flow accounts and international trade in goods statistics. Biennial for treatment of waste.

The national data is collected or compiled by the Member States and then forwarded to Eurostat.

Data validations procedures are in place for each of the underpinning statistical data sources.

The European aggregates are calculated by adding up the national waste amounts, except for imports and exports where only extra EU trade is taken into consideration.

For the calculation of tonne per capita, the data in tonnes are divided by the average population of the relevant year (AVG). The average population is taken from the table 'Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level' (demo_gind).

Not applicable.

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