Growth in waste recovery in 2022

In 2022, some 1,992 million tonnes of waste were treated in the EU, with 61.4% recovered and 38.6% disposed of.

While the total amount of treated waste increased only slightly since 2004 (+5%), the quantity of waste recovered increased by 40.6% (from 870 million tonnes to 1 223 million tonnes). Recovery includes recycling, backfilling and incineration with energy recovery. The quantity of waste subject to disposal decreased from 1,027 million tonnes in 2004 to 769 million tonnes in 2022, down by 25.1%. 

The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on waste statistics.

Source dataset: env_wastrt

Overall, 61.4% of EU waste was treated in the recovery operation: recycling (40.8% of the total treated waste), backfilling (14.2%) or energy recovery (6.4%). The remaining 38.6% was either landfilled (30.2%), incinerated without energy recovery (0.4%) or disposed of otherwise (8.0%).

Source dataset: env_wastrt

Considerable differences were observed among EU countries in their use of waste treatment methods. Italy recorded the highest share of recycling at 85.6%, followed by Belgium and Slovakia, both at 68.3%. In contrast, landfill and other disposal methods dominated in Romania (93.8%), Bulgaria (93.0%), and Finland (81.0%).

For more information

• Statistics Explained article on waste statistics
• Thematic section on waste
• Database on waste

Methodological notes

• ‘Waste’ is defined in Directive 2008/98/EC Article 3(1) as "any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard".
• Waste treatment does not include exported waste from EU countries to other EU countries or outside the EU; however, it includes the treatment of waste imported into the EU countries. Therefore, the reported amounts are not directly comparable with those on waste generation.

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