Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDI-EU2020-INDICATORS@ec.europa.eu

Indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Among other things, SDG 11 aims to renew and plan cities and other human settlements so that they offer opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation, green public spaces and others, while improving resource use and reducing environmental impacts.

Indicator can be considered as part of the global SDG indicator 11.6.1 "Percentage of urban solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge with regard to the total waste generated by the city".

Sustainable urban development is a horizontal objective of the 7th Environment Action Programme (EAP). The Circular Economy Package supports the transition to a stronger and more circular economy where resources are used in a more sustainable way. The European Green Capital and the European Green Leaf initiatives showcase commitment to resolving urban environmental challenges.

The Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 2008 on waste established in Article 11(2) following target: ´the preparing for re-use and the recycling of waste materials such as at least paper, metal, plastic and glass from households and possibly from other origins as far as these waste streams are similar to waste from households, shall be increased to a minimum of overall 50 % by weight´
The related Commission Decision 2011/753/EU of 18 November 2011 established rules and calculation methods for verifying the compliance with the targets set in Article 11(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC above. One of the four methods mentioned refers explicitly to the indicator ´Recycling rate of municipal waste´. Countries have the freedom to choose one out of four different methods to demonstrate compliance with the target. The indicator ’Recycling rate of municipal waste' provides information on the municipal waste management performance of countries. However, this indicator is not suitable to monitor the compliance with the recycling target set in Article 11(2) of Directive 2008/98/EC of all Member States.

The indicator measures the tonnage recycled from municipal waste divided by the total municipal waste arising. Recycling includes material recycling, composting and anaerobic digestion. Municipal waste consists mostly of waste generated by households, but may also include similar wastes generated by small businesses and public institutions and collected by the municipality. This latter part of municipal waste may vary from municipality to municipality and from country to country, depending on the local waste management system. For areas not covered by a municipal waste collection scheme the amount of waste generated is estimated.

The Member States report each year the amount recycled and the total municipal waste generated to Eurostat. Data collection, validation and dissemination are performed by the EDC Waste hosted at Eurostat.

% of total waste generated

Calendar year.

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS Waste Statistics

Data source: Waste Statistics of the European Statistical System (ESS)
Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by National Statistical Institutes or other competent authorities like Ministries of Environment or Environmental Protection Agencies (data collected from various sources according to national waste management practices).

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+2 years

New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All EU MS

The comparability between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries is considered relatively high as all countries apply the same definition and have high quality data sources.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

see table  sdg_11_60

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

Copyrights: Eurostat Copyright/Licence Policy is applicable.