EU-27: total waste generated per capita by country

In 2020, 4.8 metric tons of waste were generated per inhabitant in the European Union. The EU Member State with the largest volume of waste generated per inhabitant was Finland, at roughly 21 metric tons. In comparison, Germany - which is the largest producer of waste in the EU - generated 4.8 metric tons of waste per inhabitant.

Total waste generation per capita in the European Union (EU-27) in 2020, by country (in metric tons)

Characteristic	Per capita waste generation in metric tons
Finland	21
Bulgaria	16.8
Sweden	14.7
Luxembourg	14.6
Estonia	12.2
Austria	7.7
Romania	7.3
Netherlands	7.2
Belgium	5.9
Malta	5.8
EU-27	4.8
Germany	4.8
France	4.7
Poland	4.5
Czechia	3.6
Slovenia	3.6
Denmark	3.5
Italy	2.9
Ireland*	2.9
Cyprus	2.5
Lithuania	2.4
Slovakia	2.3
Greece	2.3
Spain	2.2
Portugal	1.6
Hungary	1.6
Latvia	1.5
Croatia	1.5

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Release date

September 2022

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Region

Survey time period

2020

Special properties

total waste generated in the EU by all economic activities and households amounted to 2,151 million metric tons

Supplementary notes

*Data for Ireland is from 2018.

On the basis of the Regulation on waste statistics (EC) No. 2150/2002, amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No. 849/2010, data on the generation and treatment of waste is collected from the Member States. The information on waste generation has a breakdown in sources (19 business activities according to the NACE classification and household activities) and in waste categories (according to the European Waste Classification for statistical purposes). The information on waste treatment is broken down to five treatment types (recovery, incineration with energy recovery, other incineration, disposal on land and land treatment) and in waste categories.

All values are measured in metric tons of waste and in kg per capita, based on the annual average of the population.

Source of waste generation: The generation of waste is attributed to either production or consumption activities. The actor handing over the waste to the waste management system is regarded as the source. For production activities a further breakdown is supplied in 18 economic activities according to the NACE rev. 2 classification. Three of these activities are linked to the waste management and will contain secondary waste: Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery (division 38), Remediation activities and other waste management services (division 39) and Wholesale of waste and scrap (class 46.77). In addition to the waste generated by businesses waste is generated by households.

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