Brussels, 04/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - Processing municipal waste is a good thing. Not incinerating it is even better. However, despite the fact that across the EU, almost all (96.62%) of municipal waste in 2011 was processed, with a notable increase in recycling over 10 years, incineration - the last resort in the hierarchy of waste treatment laid down by EU legislation - is still frequently practised in a number of countries, according to the statistics published on Monday 4 March by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. The results showed that recycling is most frequently used in Germany, composting in Austria and incineration in Denmark.
Of the 503 kilogrammes of municipal waste generated by each person in 2011, 486 kilogrammes were processed. 37% went into landfill (compared to 56% in 2001), 23% was incinerated (compared to 17% in 2011), 25% recycled (compared to 17% in 2001) and 15% composted (compared to 10% in 2001). The quantity of municipal waste generated per person varies considerably from one state to the next. In 2011, Denmark was in the lead with 718 kg, followed by Luxembourg, Cyprus and Ireland (between 600 kg and 700 kg), Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Finland (between 500 and 600 kg), Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Lithuania and Slovenia (between 400 and 500 kg), Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia (less than 400 kg).
It was Romania which held the landfill record (99% of waste processed) followed by Bulgaria (94%), Malta (92%) and Latvia and Lithuania (88% each). Denmark held the highest incineration rate (54% of waste processed), followed by Sweden (51%), Belgium (42%), Luxembourg and the Netherlands (38% each), Germany (37%) and France and Austria (35% each).
Recycling/composting champions Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium
Germany was top of the class for recycling (45% of waste processed), followed by Ireland (37%), Belgium (36%), Slovenia (34%), Sweden (33%), the Netherlands (32%) and Denmark (31%). The champion composting member states were Austria (34% of waste processed), the Netherlands (28%), Belgium and Luxembourg (20% each), and Spain and France (18% each). Jointly, the recycling and composting of municipal waste represented more than 50% of all waste processed in Germany (63%), Austria (62%), the Netherlands (61%) and Belgium (57%). (AN/transl.fl)