Statistics Estonia

Economic and Environmental Statistics Department

Tatari 51, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia

Waste generation by economic activities, every second year (even years).

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2

European List of Waste (LoW)

Waste Statistical Nomenclature (EWC-Stat)

All sectors and economic activities

Waste – any movable property or registered ship belonging to any of the waste categories which the holder discards, intends or is required to discard.

Hazardous waste – waste which due to the hazardous properties may cause a hazard to health, property or the environment. Wastes are defined hazardous according to Regulation of the Government of the Republic No 263 of 24 November 1998, Approval of the Lists of Waste Categories, Waste Types and Hazardous Waste. The list is based on the European Waste Catalogue (EWC).

Waste generation – waste generated in enterprise during the reporting period due to production or other activity including waste collected from others.

Waste management – collection, delivery, recovery and disposal of waste.

Waste permit – a right granted to a person handling waste or waste producer to carry out one or several of the waste handling operations specified in Waste Act or generate waste in the areas of activity specified in § 75 of Waste Act (RT I 2004, 9, 52). Waste permit also determines the requirements for exercising the right. Waste permits are granted by the Environmental Board.

A waste permit is required for:

- disposal of waste;

- waste recovery;

- collection or transport of hazardous waste;

- collection or transport of metal waste produced or transferred by other persons, except collection or transport of metal packagings of beverages taxable on the basis of the Packaging Excise Duty Act (RT I 1997, 5/6, 31; 1999, 54, 583; 2000, 59, 381; 2001, 88, 531; 2003, 88, 591), for the purposes of further commercial distribution or recovery;

- waste transport organized by a local government;

- transport of municipal waste if carried out as a business or professional activity.

Economic unit (enterprise an the local unit or the kind of activity unit as well)

Enterprises who are engaged in waste management or generate big amounts of waste in the production process

Estonia as a whole

2004-2020

Not applicable

Companies that hold waste permits, including waste transporters on professional basis, shall submit reports about their waste-related activities via KOTKAS at least once a year. 

Seasonal adjustments or any other kind of macro-level adjustments were not applied

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

Quality of 2020 data were considered good.

The main users of waste statistics data are:

Ministry of the Environment

Environmental Board

Estonian Rescue Board

Ministry of the Interior

Stockholm Environment Insitute (SEI Tallinn)

Local government institutions

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys.

Complete for the territory of Estonia as a whole.

No missing data occur in the reporting tables sent to Eurostat.

No missing data occur in the reporting tables sent to Eurostat.

he type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

The Sample survey was not used for compilation waste statistics data for 2020.

The Sample survey was not used for compilation waste statistics data for 2020.

Not applicable

Not applicable

 Not applicable

Not applicable

Statistics Estonia did not collect data on waste generation by survey for 2020. All waste permit holders have obligation to keep regular records of the type, quantity, properties and generation of the waste produced, collected, stored or temporarily stored, transported, recovered or disposed of during its activities and to report toEnvironment Agency.on waste generation, collection and treatment. Environmen Agency supervise the waste permit holders registered in their county.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

For industrial enterprises (NACE 05-33)  not having waste permit, the waste factors were worked out. The method was built on the assumption that business sector groups comprise a comparatively homogenous range of products, which should lead to similar types of waste being generated.

Sensitivity analysis or error estimations for developed factors were not made.

Not made

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia.

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available.

Revision is not performed yet

As data collecting system KOTKAS was used for the first time in 2020, the time of data collection and validation was by Environment Agency was longer than in previous years. Data were delivered to Statistics Estonia a month later.

The final results were compiled and published on Statistics Estonia website according to chedule.

Data were transmitted to Eurostat without deley.

Data were transmitted to Eurostat without deley.

Data were transmitted to Eurostat without deley.

Data were published on Statistics Estonia website according to agreed publishing calendar.

Waste statistisc is compiled on total country level. All geographical areas are covered.

Not estimated.

Waste statistics is comparable over time. as the same methodology was used.

In 2020 the break in time series for waste categories W124 „combustion wastes hazardous“and  „combustion wastes non-hazardous“ occur.

On 01.01.2020, an amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment “Procedure for Classification of Waste and List of Waste” and its Annex 1 entered into force, which changed oil shale ashes from hazardous waste to non-hazardous waste. The change is not retroactive therefore data of year 2020 about generation of combustion wastes (non-hazardous) and combustion wastes (hazardous) are not comparable with data of previous years and were marked with „break in time series “. Shale ashes made up about 30% of total quantity of waste generated in Estonia in 2020. Generation of total hazardous and total non-hazardous waste were marked with „break in time series”  also 

Data up to 2018 are totally comperable.

In 2020 the break in time series for waste categories W124 „combustion wastes hazardous“and  „combustion wastes non-hazardous“ occur.

On 01.01.2020, an amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment “Procedure for Classification of Waste and List of Waste” and its Annex 1 entered into force, which changed oil shale ashes from hazardous waste to non-hazardous waste. The change is not retroactive therefore data of year 2020 about generation of combustion wastes (non-hazardous) and combustion wastes (hazardous) are not comparable with data of previous years and were marked with „break in time series “. Shale ashes made up about 30% of total quantity of waste generated in Estonia in 2020. Generation of total hazardous and total non-hazardous waste were marked with „break in time series”  also.

Incomparability occur only for devision of waste category W124 between hazardous and non-hazardous. In case of all other waste categories, data for 2020 are comparable for alla time series. 

Waste statistics according to regulation on waste statistics are related to statistical activity 22203 “Manufactured goods and industrial services”, which is used as input in classifying waste of unspecified origin by economic activities. Waste statistics provide input for statistical activities 10601 “Material flow accounts”, 10105 “Energy accounts”, 50201 “Sustainable development indicators” and 10001 “Environmental trends”.

For waste statistics only annual data were compiled.

The waste module of Environmental Accounting is not compiled in Estonia, so the respective coherence could not be defined.

The data are inherently coherent, as the same methodology and data sources are used.

News release was not made.

Publication about waste etatistics was not made by Statistics Estonia.

Data will be published on Statistics Estonia website on 30th of June.

https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat/keskkond__surve-keskkonnaseisundile__jaatmete-teke/KK068

Not available

Micro-data are not dissiminated by Statistics Estonia.

No other dissiminations are done by Statistics Estonia.

ESMS metadata concerning waste statistics is published on Statistics Estonia website.

https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/methodology-and-quality/esms-metadata/10401

The detailed description of methodology will be published on Statistics Estonia website also.

The system is under development and methodology for waste statistics is not available yet.

https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/methodology-and-quality/methodology

Other documents besides Eurostat's Quality Report is not compiled

Not calculated

Not available

No survey on waste generation was carried out, only administrative data and estimations based on existing economical data and Business Register for Statistical purposes were used for data compilation.

Additional questions for statistical purposes were not asked.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

The confidentiality is indicated than it is relevant. In case of waste statistics the reported aggregates were considered to be not confidential

There is big decrease in total generated waste quantity between 2018 and 2020. The main reason for this decrease is decrease of energy production from oil shale. 12.5 million tons of oil shale was used (burned) for electricity production in 2018 and only 3.1 million tons in 2020.

Another reason is that only big cement producing company stopped production of cement clinker. This company used oil shale as fuel in clinker furnaces.

Due to decreased use of oil shale the excavation of oil shale is decreased as well: 15.9 million tons of oil shale was excavated in 2018 and 9.2 million tons in 2020. As the result the quantity on excavation waste decreased considerably also.

In 2020 the break in time series for waste categories W124 „combustion wastes hazardous“and  „combustion wastes non-hazardous“ occur.

On 01.01.2020, an amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment “Procedure for Classification of Waste and List of Waste” and its Annex 1 entered into force, which changed oil shale ashes from hazardous waste to non-hazardous waste. The change is not retroactive therefore data of year 2020 about generation of combustion wastes (non-hazardous) and combustion wastes (hazardous) are not comparable with data of previous years and were marked with „break in time series “. Shale ashes made up about 30% of total quantity of waste generated in Estonia in 2020. Generation of total hazardous and total non-hazardous waste were marked with „break in time series” also.

The data were validated according to Eurostat validation rules. For some economic activities (NACE B, C19, C23, D and (E36_E37+E39) the big deviations from thresholds set by validation rules is observed. These deviations were justified by changes occurred in economy in 2020.

In NACE B generation of waste decreased almost 3 times. There are 2 main reasons: decrease of oil shale excavation and reorganization of the biggest electricity producing company. Company excavating the oil shale and supplying the enterprises using oil shale, was merged with electricity producer Enefit Power and the oil shale excavation wastes moved from NACE B to NACE D.

One of the 3 companies producing shale oil was closed and shale oil production was handed over to the same company (Enefit Power), which is reason for considerable decrease of generation of hazardous waste in NACE C19.

We had one big cement producing company, which used oil shale as fuel and excavated oil shale for own use. In March 2020 this company stopped producing the cement clinker, and excavating and use of oil shale, due to which generation of waste by NACE C23 decreased 4 times.

Increase of waste generation in NACE E39 is due to  removal of contaminated soil from former military territory.

2,3 million tons of wastes from oil shale enrichment were landfilled in 2018, although wastes from oil shale enrichment were used in road and railway construction in 2020.