Statistics Explained

Waste statistics



Data extracted in January 2023.

Planned article update: September 2024.

Highlights

4.8 tonnes of waste were generated per EU inhabitant in 2020.
39.2 % of waste were recycled and 32.2 % landfilled in the EU in 2020.
[[File:Waste statistics30-05-2023.xlsx]]

Waste generation, 2020


This article gives an overview on waste generation and treatment in the European Union (EU) and several non-EU member countries. It draws exclusively on data collected in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and Council on waste statistics.

Waste, defined by Directive 2008/98/EC Article 3(1) as 'any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard', potentially represents an enormous loss of resources in the form of both materials and energy. In addition, the management and disposal of waste can have serious environmental impacts. Landfill, for example, takes up land space and may cause air, water and soil pollution, while incineration may result in emissions of air pollutants.

EU waste management policies therefore aim to reduce the environmental and health impacts of waste and to improve the EU's resource efficiency. The long-term aim of these policies is to reduce the amount of waste generated and when waste generation is unavoidable to promote it as a resource and achieve higher levels of recycling and the safe disposal of waste.

Full article


Total waste generation

In 2020, the total waste generated in the EU by all economic activities and households amounted to 2 135 million tonnes or 4 815 kg per capita.

Table showing waste generation by economic activities and households as percentage share of total waste in the EU, individual EU Member States, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo for the year 2020.
Table 1: Waste generation by economic activities and households, 2020
(% share of total waste)
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

The share of different economic activities and of households in total waste generation in 2020 is presented in Figure 1. In the EU, construction contributed 37.5 % of the total in 2020 and was followed by mining and quarrying (23.4 %), waste and water services (10.8 %), manufacturing (10.6 %) and households (9.4 %); the remaining 8.2 % was waste generated from other economic activities, mainly services (4.4 %) and energy (2.3 %).

Pie chart showing waste generation by economic activities and households as percentage share of total waste in the EU for the year 2020.
Figure 1: Waste generation by economic activities and households, EU, 2020
(% share of total waste)
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

Figure 2 shows an analysis of the amount of waste generated in a standardised form, in relation to population size. The high levels of total waste generated in some of the smaller EU Member States can be clearly seen, with particularly high values recorded for Finland where on average more than 20 tonnes of waste were generated per inhabitant in 2020, more than four times the EU average of 4.8 tonnes per inhabitant. Several of the Member States with particularly high levels of waste generated per inhabitant reported very high shares of waste from mining and quarrying, while elsewhere construction and demolition often contributed to the high shares.

A lot of the waste from mining and quarrying and from construction and demolition is classified as major mineral waste: the analysis presented in Figure 2 distinguishes major mineral waste from all other wastes. Almost two-thirds (64 % or 3.1 tonnes per inhabitant) of the total waste generated in the EU in 2020 was major mineral waste. The relative share of major mineral waste in the total waste generated varied considerably between EU Member States, which may reflect, at least to some degree, different economic structures. In general, those EU Member States that had higher shares of major mineral waste were those that were characterised as having relatively sizeable mining and quarrying activities, such as Finland, Sweden and Bulgaria, and/or construction and demolition activities, such as Luxembourg; in these Member States, major mineral waste accounted for between 84 % and 89 % of all waste generated.

Stacked vertical bar chart showing waste generation as kg per capita for the EU, individual EU Member States, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Each country column has two stacks representing waste excluding major mineral waste and major mineral waste for the year 2020.
Figure 2: Waste generation, 2020
(kg per capita)
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

Waste generation excluding major mineral waste

In the EU, 776 million tonnes of waste excluding major mineral waste were generated in 2020, equivalent to 36 % of the total waste generated. When expressed in relation to population size, the EU generated, on average, 1.7 tonnes per inhabitant of waste excluding major mineral waste in 2020 (Figure 3).

Across the EU Member States, waste generation excluding major mineral waste ranged from an average of 6.3 tonnes per inhabitant in Estonia to less than 1 tonne per inhabitant in Romania and Malta in 2020. The large quantity of waste generated in Estonia is related to energy production based on oil shale.

Vertical bar chart showing waste generation excluding major mineral waste in as kg per capita for the EU, individual EU Member States, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Each country has two columns representing the years 2010 and 2020.
Figure 3: Waste generation, excluding major mineral waste, 2010 and 2020
(kg per capita)
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

Table 2 shows the development of EU waste generation excluding major mineral waste analysed by economic activity. In 2020, the highest levels of waste generation were recorded for waste and water services (212 million tonnes), for households (196 million tonnes) and for manufacturing activities (167 million tonnes). Their developments followed different patterns over time: between 2004 and 2020, waste generation (excluding major mineral waste) by waste and water services and by households increased by 182.3 % and 12.4 %, respectively, while generation by manufacturing activities diminished quite considerably, down by 30.5 %.

Table showing waste generation excluding major mineral waste by economic activities and households in million tonnes for selected years between 2004 and 2020. A table column also shows the percentage change between 2020 and 2004.
Table 2: Waste generation, excluding major mineral waste, EU, 2004-2020
(million tonnes)
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

Hazardous waste generation

Hazardous waste may pose an elevated risk to human health and to the environment if not managed and disposed of safely. Among the waste generated in the EU in 2020, 95.5 million tonnes (4.4 % of the total) were classified as hazardous waste.

Compared with 2010, 5.1 % more hazardous waste was generated in 2020 in the EU. This is an increase in quantity terms from 90.8 to 95.5 million tonnes with a peak in of 102.0  million tonnes in 2018. The decline in 2020 compared with 2018 results mainly from less combustion wastes due to less incineration of solid fuels such as coal, coke and oil shale. In 2020, the share of hazardous waste in total waste generation was between 0.5 % in Romania and 12.0 % in Bulgaria. Among the non-EU member countries shown in Figure 4, Türkiye recorded the highest share of hazardous waste in total waste generation (28.5 %) and was followed by North Macedonia (28.2 %). Montenegro (27.6 %), Serbia (19.3 %) and Norway (13.3 %).

Vertical bar chart showing hazardous waste generated as percentage share of total waste for the EU, individual EU Member States, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Montenegro, Türkiye, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each country has two columns representing the years 2010 and 2020.
Figure 4: Hazardous waste generated, 2010 and 2020
(% share of total waste )
Source: Eurostat (env_wasgen)

Waste treatment

In 2020, some 1 971 million tonnes of waste were treated in the EU. This does not include exported waste but includes the treatment of waste imported into the EU. The reported amounts are therefore not directly comparable with those on waste generation.

Figure 5 shows the development of total waste treatment in the EU, as well as for the two main treatment categories – recovery and disposal – during the period 2004-2020. The quantity of waste recovered, in other words recycled, used for backfilling (the use of waste in excavated areas for the purpose of slope reclamation or safety or for engineering purposes in landscaping) or incinerated with energy recovery increased by 33.9 % from 870 million tonnes in 2004 to 1 165 million tonnes in 2020; as a result, the share of such recovery in total waste treatment rose from 45.9 % in 2004 to 59.1 % in 2020. The quantity of waste subject to disposal decreased from 1 027 million tonnes in 2004 to 806 million tonnes in 2020, which was a decrease of 21.5 %. The share of disposal in total waste treatment decreased from 54.1 % in 2004 to 40.9 % in 2020.

Line chart showing waste treatment with the year 2004 indexed at 100 for the EU. Three lines represent recovery, total and disposal over the years 2004 to 2020.
Figure 5: Waste treatment, EU, 2004-2020
(Index 2004 = 100)
Source: Eurostat (env_wastrt)

As stated above, in the EU in 2020, more than a half (59.1 %) of the waste was treated in recovery operations: recycling (39.9 % of the total treated waste), backfilling (12.7 %) or energy recovery (6.5 %). The remaining 40.9 % was either landfilled (32.2 %), incinerated without energy recovery (0.5 %) or disposed of otherwise (8.2 %). Significant differences could be observed among the EU Member States regarding the use they made of these various treatment methods. For instance, some Member States had very high recycling rates (Italy, Belgium, Slovakia and Latvia), in others landfill is the prevailing treatment category (Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden and Greece, see Figure 6).

Stacked vertical bar chart showing waste treatment by type of recovery and disposal as percentage of total treatment for the EU, individual EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Türkiye, North Macedonia and Kosovo. Totalling 100 %, each country column has five stacks representing recovery - recycling, energy recovery, recovery - backfilling, disposal - landfill and other, and disposal - incineration without energy recovery for the year 2020.
Figure 6: Waste treatment by type of recovery and disposal, 2020
(% of total treatment)
Source: Eurostat (env_wastrt)

Hazardous waste treatment

In total, 74.7 million tonnes of hazardous waste were treated in the EU in 2020, with more than two-thirds of this treated in just four EU Member States, Germany (21.4 million tonnes or 28.7 % of EU total), Bulgaria (13.8 million tonnes or 18.5 %), and France (8.2 million tonnes or 10.9 %) and Sweden (7.0 million tonnes or 9.3 %), see Figure 7.

Vertical bar chart showing hazardous waste treatment in million tonnes for individual EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Türkiye and North Macedonia for the year 2020.
Figure 7: Hazardous waste treatment, 2020
(million tonnes)
Source: Eurostat (env_wastrt)

In 2020, 47.5 % of the hazardous waste treated in the EU was recovered: 38.5 % by recycling or backfilling (64 kg per inhabitant) and 8.3 % by energy recovery (14 kg per inhabitant, see Figure 8). The remaining 52.5 % were incinerated without energy recovery (5.8 % or 10 kg per inhabitant), landfilled, in other words deposited into or onto land or through land treatment(22.1 % or 37 kg per inhabitant) or disposed of by other way (25.4 % or 42 kg per inhabitant).

Stacked vertical bar chart showing hazardous waste treatment in kg per capita for the EU, individual EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro and Türkiye. Each country column has five stacks representing recovery - recycling, recovery - backfilling, recovery - energy recovery, disposal - landfill and other, and disposal - incineration without energy recovery for the year 2020.
Figure 8: Hazardous waste treatment, 2020
(kg per capita)
Source: Eurostat (env_wastrt)

Source data for tables and graphs

Data sources

In order to monitor the implementation of waste policy, in particular compliance with the principles of recovery and safe disposal, reliable statistics on the production and management of waste from businesses and private households are required. In 2002, Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics was adopted, creating a framework for harmonised Community statistics in this field.

Starting with reference year 2004, the Regulation requires EU Member States to provide data on the generation, recovery and disposal of waste every 2 years. Data on waste generation and treatment are currently available for even reference years from 2004 to 2020.

Context

EU waste management policies aim to reduce the environmental and health impacts of waste and improve Europe's resource efficiency by extracting high-quality resources from waste as much as possible. The European Green Deal aims to promote growth by transitioning to a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. For more information see "Waste and recycling"[1].

The Waste Framework Directive (Directive 98/2008/EC article 4) introduced a five-step waste hierarchy where prevention is the best option, followed by re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery, with disposal such as landfill as the last resort:

  • reduce the amount of waste generated;
  • maximise recycling and re-use;
  • limit incineration to non-recyclable materials;
  • phase out landfilling to non-recyclable and non-recoverable waste;
  • ensure full implementation of the waste policy targets in all EU Member States.

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Waste generation and treatment (t_env_wasgt)


Waste generation and treatment (env_wasgt)