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Indicator Specification
Waste represents an enormous loss of resources in the form of both materials and energy. The amount of waste produced can be seen as an indicator of how efficient we are as a society, particularly in relation to our use of natural resources and waste treatment operations.
Municipal waste is currently the best indicator available for describing the general development of waste generation and treatment in European countries. This is because all countries collect data on municipal waste; data coverage for other wastes, for example total waste or household waste, is more limited.
Municipal waste constitutes only around 10 % of total waste generated, but because of its complex character and its distribution among many waste generators, environmentally sound management of this waste is complicated. Municipal waste contains many materials for which recycling is environmentally beneficial.
Despite its limited share of total waste generation, the political focus on municipal waste is very high.
The indicator presents municipal waste generation, expressed in kg per person. Municipal waste refers to waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities; the main part originates from households, but waste from commerce and trade, office buildings, institutions and small businesses is also included.
kilogramme per person per year, percentage.
This strategy sets out guidelines for European Union (EU) action and describes the ways in which waste management can be improved and waste can be prevented.
This Directive establishes a legal framework for the treatment of waste within the Community. It aims at protecting the environment and human health through the prevention of the harmful effects of waste generation and waste management.
By 2006, Member States are restricted to landfilling a maximum of 75% of the total amount by weight of BMW produced in 1995. This target increases to 50 % in 2009 and 35% in 2016.
The 5th EU EAP had a target of 300 kg household waste per capita, but this target has been replaced by an overall objective to substantially reduce waste generation and disposal of waste in the 6th EU EAP.
The management of MSW is, to some extent, driven by landfill diversion targets set out in the Landfill Directive (See Landfill section). However, the recent revision to the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) includes the following target for household, and similar, waste:
The base data set for the calculation of the indicators is the amount of municipal waste collected by or on behalf of municipal authorities, and the amounts recycled, landfilled and incinerated.
Municipal waste is a part of overall waste generated. The term 'municipal' is used in different ways in the EU-27 because of the different management practices applied in different countries.
The bulk of this waste stream is from households though 'similar' wastes from sources such as commerce, offices and public institutions are also included.
According to the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire:
For the calculation of specific waste generation in kg per capita, the national amounts of municipal waste collected are divided by the national population. Figures for WE and CEE countries are calculated by summing up the national figures, divided by the WE and CEE countries' population.
For the calculation of waste treatment distribution by method, the quantity treated by each method is divided by the total amount of municipal waste collected and expressing it as percentage.
If no data are available for a certain country and year, estimations are made by the Topic Centre to fill the gap.
No methodology references available.
Data is taken from officially reported statistics only.
Because of different definitions of the concept, Municipal waste and the fact that some countries have reported data on municipal waste and others on household waste data are in general not comparable between member countries. Thus, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden do not include data on bulky waste as part of municipal waste, and very often not data on separately collected food waste and garden waste either. Southern European countries in general include very few waste types under municipal waste, indicating that data for traditional collection (bagged waste) apparently is the only big contributor to the total amount of municipal waste in these countries. The term, "waste from household and commercial activities" is an attempt to identify common and comparable parts of municipal waste. This concept and further details on comparability was presented in EEA topic report No 3/2000.
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
As a matter of fact the waste statistics regulation will not provide data on municipal waste ? only household waste. Consequently, Eurostat will probably still collect data on municipal waste from the countries on a voluntary basis.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/municipal-waste-generation or scan the QR code.
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