Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal'.

SDG 12 calls for a comprehensive set of actions from businesses, policy-makers, researchers and consumers to adapt to sustainable practices. It envisions sustainable production and consumption based on advanced technological capacity, resource efficiency and reduced global waste.

The indicator can be considered as part of the global SDG indicator 11.6.1 "Proportion of urban solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge out of total urban solid waste generated, by cities".

Increasing the circularity of Europe's economy is a key priority of the new Industrial Strategy of the EU adopted in 2020 and one of the key elements of the European Green Deal.

The European Commission adopted the new circular economy action plan (CEAP) in March 2020. The EU’s transition to a circular economy will reduce pressure on natural resources and will create sustainable growth and jobs. The new action plan announces initiatives along the entire life cycle of products. It targets how products are designed, promotes circular economy processes, encourages sustainable consumption, and aims to ensure that waste is prevented and the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. Building on existing EU policies and legislation, the Circular Economy Package establishes a programme of action with measures covering the whole cycle from production and consumption to waste management. The Package includes commitments on ecodesign, waste prevention and reuse, clean material cycles and ambitious quantitative targets on increasing recycling and reducing landfilling, obligations to improve the separate collection of waste, as well as the promotion of efficient use of bio-based resources.

The Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy (SCP/SIP) Action Plan includes a series of proposals on sustainable consumption and production that will contribute to improving the environmental performance of products and increase the demand for more sustainable goods and production technologies.

This indicator is defined as all waste generated in a country. It covers waste generated by industrial production (including the waste management sector itself) and by households. Major mineral wastes, dredging spoils and soils are included. This leads to high quantities of waste in some countries with substantial economic activities such as mining and construction.

kg per capita

i. hazardous and non-hazardous - total
ii. hazardous
iii. non-hazardous

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) (ENV_WASGEN)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every 2 years

Indicator is updated every second year. 

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 Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the United Kingdom, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzogovina, and Kosovo (under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99).

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States and with the other presented countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2004.

> 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_12_51

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