Waste recycling in Europe

The waste recycling rate — proportion of waste generated that is recycled — has increased in the EU-27. Driven by EU binding recycling targets, this indicates progress towards using more waste as a resource and achieving a circular economy. The rate of progress has stagnated recently and in some cases reversed, with packaging waste recycling decreasing in the past five years. In 2021 the majority of waste was still disposed of through incineration or landfill operations. Achieving circularity in Europe and minimising environmental impacts from natural resource use requires continuous ambitious waste management policy setting to incentivise recycling and discourage waste disposal in landfills and incineration plants.

Recycling rates in Europe by waste stream

Rising demand for primary resources weakens the EU's material self-sufficiency, imposing pressure on the environment. Recycling is the only mainstream waste management operation preventing valuable resources in our waste from being destroyed. Using recycled material for new product manufacturing avoids enormous environmental impacts associated with the extraction and processing of natural resources. Increasing recycled material is a desired approach to achieving sustainability, material self-sufficiency and other benefits of a circular economy.

Recycling rates of waste (municipal, packaging and e-waste) in the EU — which also represent significant sources of critical raw materials — have been slowly increasing in general, indicating a move towards a more circular economy. The overall recycling rate, i.e. the ratio between total waste generated excluding major mineral wastes and the quantities that were managed through recycling, stood at 46% in 2020. The highest recycling rate in 2021 was registered for packaging (64%) followed by municipal (49%) and e-waste (39%).

EU targets for waste management are key drivers of increasing recycling rates. For example, theWaste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive sets targets for the separate collection and recycling of electrical and electronic waste; theWaste Framework Directiveincludes targets for the recycling and preparing for reuse of municipal waste; and thePackaging and Packaging Waste Directivedefines targets for recycling packaging waste. In total, EU waste legislation includes more than 30 binding targets for the period 2015-2030.

Until recently, the progress made for these three key waste streams has been more significant than in overall recycling. This reflects the importance of the strong EU policies in driving improvements in waste management. However, in recent years, the recycling rates for all three waste streams have been stagnating and the increasing trends for packaging waste and WEEE havereversed. The overall recycling rate shows little progress in general and remains below 50%, meaning the majority of generated waste is disposed of in landfills and incineration plants.

The ambition that has traditionally underpinned EU waste policy needs to be preserved and reinforced so that recycling is further supported, while landfilling and incineration is discouraged, for a circular economy to continue its advancement.

All countries considered, except for Sweden, have increased their municipal waste recycling rates since 2004, which clearly indicates improvements in waste management. Some countries (Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Latvia) have even achieved remarkable improvements, registering increases of more than 40 percentage points.

The difference in municipal waste recycling performance between the countries with the highest and lowest recycling rates is large. In 2021, rates ranged from 68% in Germany to 11% in Romania. Nine countries, namely Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Italy achieved recycling rates of 50% or higher, while another four countries (Cyprus, Malta, Türkiye and Romania) recycled less than 20% of municipal waste.

However, several countries with relatively low recycling rates made little progress over the past 15 years, and in 2023, 18 EU Member States were identified as being at risk of not meeting the recycling target for 2025 set in the Waste Framework Directive (recycling 55% of municipal waste).

Supporting information

DefinitionMethodology

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 two years (for waste generation) to every year (for population and GDP). 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) 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 three 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.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Policy/environmental relevance

Justification for indicator selection

Follows progress of the implementation of EU law on waste.

Scientific references

No rationale references available.

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. 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. These priorities are highlighted by recent waste and resource efficiency policies and strategies at EU and national levels.

Targets

No targets have been specified.

Metadata

DPSIRTopicsTagsTemporal coverageGeographic coverage

TypologyUN SDGsUnit of measureFrequency of dissemination

References and footnotes

EU, 2012, Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), OJ L 197, 24.7.2012, p. 38-71.

^a^b
EU, 2008, Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives, OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3-30.

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EU, 2018, Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 109-140.

^a^b
EU, 1994, European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste

^↵
EU, 2018, 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, OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 141-154.

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Note that the methodology for calculating recycling rates for packaging and municipal waste changed for the 2020 data reporting and onwards, with several EU Member States reporting lower recycling rates because of this.
^↵
EC, 2015, 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) 614 final.

^↵
EC, 2018, 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) 28 final.

^↵
EC, 2020, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the 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.

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Waste recycling in Europe

Figure 1. Recycling rates in Europe by waste stream

Figure 2. Municipal waste recycling rates in Europe by country