Brussels – Can greater awareness of the environment and the climate crisis encourage people to produce less waste? According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, the EU generated 765 million tonnes of waste in 2024, excluding mineral waste resulting from mining, construction or demolition. This corresponds to 35 per cent of all waste produced, amounting to 2,196 million tonnes. The Agency also points out that, on average, each person produced 1,697 kg of waste in the EU in 2024 – excluding mineral waste.
Excluding waste from mining activities, the total amount of waste has fallen by 1.9 per cent over the last two decades compared with the 779.5 million tonnes recorded in 2004. Looking at individual EU countries, Estonia produced the highest amount of waste (4,703 kg per capita), followed by Belgium (3,157 kg per capita) and Bulgaria (2,881 kg per capita). Conversely, Malta (1,092 kg per capita), Ireland (1,199 kg per capita) and Slovenia (1,254 kg per capita) generated the lowest amounts. Italy lies in the middle, with a figure of 1,931 kg per capita, above the EU average of 1,697 kg per capita.
In 2024, almost two-thirds (61.8 per cent) of the EU’s waste was processed in what Eurostat defines as recovery operations. Specifically, 42 per cent of waste was recycled, 13.3 per cent was used for backfilling excavations – in the context of recycling, this involves using recovered inert materials, such as uncontaminated excavated soil and rock, demolition rubble, crushed concrete or screened gravel – to fill voids in the ground, backfill disused quarries or restore an area to its original profile – and 6.5 per cent was incinerated to recover energy. The remaining 37.8 per cent of the waste was sent to landfill, and 0.4 per cent was carbonised, but without energy recovery.
In 12 EU Member States, recycling was the most widely used method of waste treatment, accounting for over 50 per cent. Italy ranked first, recycling 87.3 per cent of its waste, followed by Hungary (77.1 per cent) and Slovakia (69.8 per cent). In Slovenia, 67.8 per cent of waste was used for backfilling, while in Ireland the figure was 45.2 per cent. In Bulgaria (91.4 per cent), Finland (84.4 per cent) and Sweden (75.1 per cent), landfill was the preferred option. Incineration with energy recovery was one of the least common methods across the EU. However, Denmark (27 per cent) and Lithuania (19.4 per cent) used this option.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
