Published : Mar 19,
2013 Last modified : Mar 19, 2013 01:19
PM
Austria, Germany and Belgium recycled the
largest proportion of municipal waste in
Europe in 2010. Although some countries
have rapidly increased recycling rates,
Europe is still wasting vast quantities
of valuable resources by sending them to
landfill, and many countries risk falling
short of legally binding recycling targets.
In a relatively short
time, some countries have successfully encouraged
a culture of recycling, with infrastructure,
incentives and public awareness campaigns.
But others are still lagging behind, wasting
huge volumes of resources.
Jacqueline McGlade,
EEA Executive Director
Overall 35 % of municipal
waste was recycled in Europe in 2010, a
significant improvement on 23 % in 2001.
But many countries will find it extremely
difficult to meet EU-mandated targets to
recycle 50 % of household and similar waste
by 2020. The information comes from a new
report from the European Environment Agency
(EEA) which looks at the management of municipal
solid waste, mainly consisting of household
waste, in 27 EU Member States, Croatia,
Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Although five countries
have already achieved the target, most others
will need to make extraordinary efforts
to achieve this before the deadline. For
example; at present, Bulgaria and Romania
seem to recycle small proportions of municipal
waste, so in order to meet the target by
2020 they must increase recycling by more
than 4 percentage points per year during
this decade – something which no country
managed to do between 2001 and 2010.
The United Kingdom increased
the share of municipal waste recycling from
12 to 39 % between 2001 and 2010, while
Ireland raised recycling rates from 11 to
36% over the same period. Slovenia, Poland
and Hungary have also dramatically improved
recycling rates since joining the EU.
Recycling rates are
highest in Austria, with 63 %, followed
by Germany (62 %), Belgium (58 %), the Netherlands
(51 %) and Switzerland (51 %). Alongside
the main report, the EEA has also published
individual country reports.
Jacqueline McGlade,
EEA Executive Director, said: “In a relatively
short time, some countries have successfully
encouraged a culture of recycling, with
infrastructure, incentives and public awareness
campaigns. But others are still lagging
behind, wasting huge volumes of resources.
The current intense demand for some materials
should alert countries to the clear economic
opportunities in recycling.”
The EEA report is particularly
relevant, given that municipal waste is
primarily a public sector responsibility
and the current economic situation in many
EU Member States demands an added focus
on how to achieve policy goals most cost-effectively.
The report supports
European Commission efforts to help EU Member
States improve their waste management performance.
The document will be launched today at a
seminar in Brussels on policy instruments
and infrastructure to improve municipal
waste management.
Other findings
Europe is successfully
moving up the ‘waste management hierarchy’,
albeit more slowly than required by legislation,
the report says. The amount of waste sent
to landfill has decreased since 2001, while
Europe has increased the amount of waste
incinerated, composted and recycled.
Recycling can reduce greenhouse gases and
save valuable resources. This is because
recycled materials replace virgin materials.
From a life-cycle perspective, changing
municipal waste treatment between 2001 and
2010 has successfully cut greenhouse gas
emissions from municipal waste by 56 %,
or 38 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent in
the EU, Norway and Switzerland, the report
says.
Preventing waste in the first place is the
first priority of EU waste legislation.
The municipal waste generated by each EU
citizen fell by 3.6 % between 2001 and 2010.
However, this may be due to the economic
downturn – waste generation per capita was
quite stable between 2001 and 2007.
Municipal waste produced
by the average Slovakian increased by 39%
between 2001 and 2010, while Norwegians
and Croatians increased annual municipal
waste by 30 and 25 % respectively. At the
other end of the scale, several countries
reduced the amount of waste they generated
– including Bulgaria (18 % reduction), Estonia
(17 %), Slovenia (12 %) and the UK (12 %).
Norway, Ireland and
Poland reduced the proportion of municipal
waste going to landfill most between 2001
and 2010.
Improved recycling rates are primarily due
to trends in recycling of materials, with
less progress in bio-waste recycling.
Countries that successfully reduced waste
sent to landfill and increased recycling
usually used a range of national and regional
instruments. These included landfill bans
on biodegradable waste or municipal waste
that has not been pre-treated, mandatory
separate collection of municipal waste fractions,
economic instruments such as landfill and
incineration taxes, and waste collection
fees incentivising recycling.
Background
Recycling includes material
recycling (for example glass, paper, metals
and plastics) and composting. The 50% recycling
target applies to EU Member States, Norway
and Iceland. Countries can choose between
four different calculation methods to report
compliance with this target. The EEA has
chosen one method for its analysis, so it
should be noted that other methods might
result in different outcomes.
In addition, it should
be noted that the actual recycling rates
in a few countries may be higher than reported
data indicate because their current reporting
excludes recycled packaging waste from households.
Moreover, countries with very low recycling
levels can ask for a derogation period for
the target.
On 4 March 2013 Eurostat
published 2011 municipal waste data, offering
further options for analysis. Eurostat uses
slightly different categories from the EEA
and data are thus not directly comparable
with EEA analysis.
