Energy Market & Energy Statistics

Aenert news. Energy Market & Energy Statistics
Eurostat's waste statistics provide an overview of waste generation and treatment in the European Union and some non-EU countries in 2020.

It should be noted that most of the waste from mining and quarrying, as well as from construction, is classified as large mineral waste, which is treated separately from all other waste in these statistics.

According to published data, in 2020, the total amount of waste generated in the EU from all economic activities and households was 2,135 million tons, which is 4,815 kg per capita.



Looking at waste per capita in the different countries, especially high figures are recorded in Finland, where the average waste per inhabitant in 2020 was over 20 tons, which is more than four times the EU average. The reason for these figures is Finland's high share of mineral waste in the mining and quarrying category. This also applies to other countries with relatively large mining and quarrying activities, such as Bulgaria and Sweden, which rank second and third, respectively. In addition, high total generated waste can be caused by construction and demolition activities, as for example in Luxembourg, Austria and the Netherlands. 

The countries with the highest rates of household waste are Portugal, Hungary and Latvia. Energy is the largest contributor to the total waste generated in Estonia, which is caused by energy production based on oil shale. The EU members with the smallest rates of wasted generated per capita are Portugal, Latvia and Croatia.



The figure above illustrates how individual activities contribute to the total volume of waste generation. Construction has the largest weight with 37.5% of the total waste, ahead of mining and quarrying – 23.4%, waste and water services – 10.8%, and manufacturing – 10.6%. Household waste accounts for 9.4% and the remaining 8.2% is distributed among other economic activities, mainly services – 4.4% and energy – 2.3%.

Eurostat also provides data on the generation of hazardous waste, which can pose an increased risk to human health and the environment if not handled and disposed of safely. 95.5 million tons generated in the EU in 2020 were classified as hazardous waste, representing 4.4% of the total (5.1 % more compared to 2020).

About 1 971 million tonnes of waste were treated in the EU in 2020. Approximately 59% of the waste was treated in recovery operations, of which 39.9% was recycled, 12.7% was backfilled, and 6.5% was energy recovery. The remaining 41% was either landfilled (32.2%), incinerated without energy recovery (0.5%), or otherwise disposed (8.2%). Italy, Belgium, Slovakia and Latvia are countries with a high recycling rate, while e.g. in Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden the predominant treatment category is landfill.


By the Editorial Board