New data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has revealed that, compared to 2001, in 2011, the 27 EU member states (EU27) sent 19 per cent less municipal waste to landfill, recycled or composted 27 per cent more and incinerated eight per cent more.
The new data, released today (4 March), found that of the 503 kilogrammes (kg) of municipal waste generated per person in 2011, 486 kg was treated.
On the whole, the data shows that preferences for treating waste have shifted in the past decade, with more waste being pushed up the waste hierarchy to be recovered for energy or recycled.
Indeed, according to the data, 37 per cent of waste was landfilled in 2011 (down from 56 per cent in 2001), 25 per cent was recycled (up from 17 per cent), 23 per cent was incinerated (up from 17 per cent) and 15 per cent was composted (up from 10 per cent).
However, the treatment methods differed ‘substantially’ between member states, with recycling and composting most common in Germany (63 per cent), Austria (62 per cent) and the Netherlands (61 per cent).
Eastern European states were found to still favour landfilling, with Romania landfilling a massive 99 per cent of its waste in 2011, followed by Bulgaria (94 per cent), Malta (92 per cent), Latvia and Lithuania (both 88 per cent). Northern European countries, meanwhile, were found to prefer incineration. Denmark and Sweden both incinerated over 50 per cent of their municipal waste, followed by Belgium (42 per cent), Germany (37 per cent) and Luxembourg and the Netherlands (both 28 per cent).
The amount of municipal waste generated also varied ‘significantly’ across member states, with Denmark producing 718 kg per person, followed by Luxembourg, Cyprus and Ireland (with values between 600 and 700 kg per person). The lowest values (below 400 kg per person) were recorded in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.
The United Kingdom produced 513 kg of municipal waste per person in 2011.
According to Eurostat, municipal waste consists ‘to a large extent’ of waste generated by households, but may also include similar wastes generated by small businesses and public institutions and collected by the municipality. For areas not covered by a municipal waste collection scheme the amount of waste generated was estimated. Wastes from agriculture and industry were not included.
Europe ‘unnecessarily’ landfilling waste
The news follows on from last month’s Friends of the Earth Europe (FEE) report that claimed that Europe ‘unnecessarily’ landfills or incinerates 60 per cent of its municipal waste.
Resource use campaigner at FEE, Ariadna Rodrigo, said: “Europe is still stuck in a system where valuable materials, many of which come at a high environmental and social cost, end up in landfill or incineration.
“Recycling targets are a good start, but reusing products and materials and preventing waste in the first place won’t be the norm until we have EU targets for these too.
“There is an urgent need to fundamentally change EU policies and end our current wastefulness. Reducing waste is an easy way to increase Europe’s resource efficiency. It not only contributes to cutting carbon emissions, it also creates jobs in Europe and reduces dependency on imported raw materials.”
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