Waste recycling in Europe

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• 03 Aug 2021, 11:37 AM
  - Waste recycling in Europe

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Follows progress of the implementation of EU law on waste

Scientific references

• No rationale references available

Indicator definition

The two figures in this indicator provide information on waste recycling rates. Figure 1 shows percentage values of waste recycling rates for municipal waste, waste excluding major mineral waste, packaging waste and WEEE. Figure 2 shows municipal waste recycling rates as percentages and by country in the form of a bar chart comparing rates for the reference year (2004) with rates for the latest available year (2019 or, in some cases, 2018).

Units

The unit used for recycling rates in all figures is percentage (%).

Policy context and targets

Context description

One of the characteristics of the linear economy system, which has predominated in recent decades, is a high level of resource consumption followed by a high level of waste generation (‘take-make-dispose’ model). This economic model is based on increasing profits generated by the consumption of primary resources and increasing demand for short-cycle products. In 2015, 2018 and 2020, the European Commission adopted circular economy packages to make the transition to a stronger economic model where resources are used in a more sustainable way (EC, 2015, 2018, 2020). The waste hierarchy serves to set priorities for national waste policies and gives the highest priority to waste prevention, followed by preparing for reuse, recycling, other methods of recovery and disposal (EU, 2018a). These priorities are highlighted by recent waste and resource efficiency policies and strategies at EU and national levels.

Targets

No targets have been specified

Related policy documents

• COM(2015) 614 final, Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy
  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy COM/2015/0614 final
• COM(2018) 28 final, A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy
  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy COM/2018/028 final
• COM(2020) 98 final, A new Circular Economy Action Plan For a cleaner and more competitive Europe
  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS A new Circular Economy Action Plan For a cleaner and more competitive Europe COM/2020/98 final
• Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste
  Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste
• Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
  Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste 
• Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
  European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) Directive 2012/19/EU
  The objective of the Directive is to promote re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in order to reduce the quantity of such waste to be disposed and to improve the environmental performance of the economic operators involved in the treatment of WEEE. The WEEE Directive sets criteria for the collection, treatment and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment. The Directive is a recast of Directive 2002/96/EC. ( http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:197:0038:0071:EN:PDF)
• Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC)
  Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (Text with EEA relevance)

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Raw data for waste generation and treatment were retrieved from Eurostat. Eurostat aggregate data for the EU-27 were used. Data on waste generation contain all NACE (statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community) activities and households. Frequency of data publishing is every 2 years. Information on data set uncertainties can be found directly in the metadata and explanatory notes provided by Eurostat. Only official Eurostat data sets have been used.

The recycling rate for municipal waste is the percentage of municipal waste generated that is recycled. The recycling of municipal waste includes material recycling and composting/anaerobic digestion.

The recycling rate for packaging waste is the percentage of packaging waste generated that is recycled.

The recycling rate of waste excluding major mineral wastes is the percentage of waste excluding major mineral wastes generated that is recycled.

The recycling rate of WEEE was calculated by multiplying the ‘collection rate’ set out in the WEEE Directive (Directive 2012/19/EU) (EU, 2012) by the ‘reuse and recycling rate’ set out in the WEEE Directive, where:

• The 'collection rate' equals the volumes of WEEE collected in the reference year divided by the average quantity of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market in the previous 3 years (both expressed in units of mass).
• The ‘reuse and recycling rate’ is calculated by dividing the weight of WEEE that enters the recycling/preparing for reuse facility by the weight of all separately collected WEEE (both in units of mass) in accordance with Article 11(2) of the WEEE Directive, assuming that the total amount of WEEE collected is sent to treatment/recycling facilities.

Methodology for gap filling

No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Data specifications

EEA data references

• No datasets have been specified here.

External data references

• Municipal waste by waste management operations (env_wasmun)
• Management of waste excluding major mineral waste, by waste operations (env_wasoper)
• Recycling rate of e-waste (cei_wm050)
• Waste generation and treatment (env_wasgen)
• Packaging waste by waste management operations and waste flow (env_waspac)

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

No uncertainty has been identified in the methodology used to process this indicator.

Data sets uncertainty

Data set uncertainties can be found directly in the metadata and explanatory notes provided by Eurostat.

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been identified in the rationale for this indicator.