48 % of municipal waste in the EU was recycled (material recycling and composting) in 2020

According to the newly published municipal waste data by Eurostat (14/02/2022) 40 million tonnes (90 kg per person) of waste were composted in 2020.

No further development in the treatment of bio-waste

This is almost three times as much as in 1995 (14 million tonnes, or 33 kg per person), but composting as recycling operation for municipal bio-waste did not increase from 2019 to 2020. This is alarming, as with regard to the ambitious recycling targets in the revised Waste Framework Directive (EU 2018/851), Member States have to improve the separate collection and treatment of bio-waste. Until the end of 2023 Member States have to ensure that bio-waste is ‘either separated and recycled at source, or is collected separately‘, and the recycling, including composting and digestion, of bio-waste has to be encouraged.

The amount of recycled waste remained stable as well in 2020. Recycling of materials fell to 67 million tonnes from 68 million tonnes in 2019, corresponding to 151 kg per person (same as in 2019). Compared to 1995, it means people in the EU recycled 44 million tonnes (97 kg per capita) more than in 1995.More information on EUROSTAT here.