EU plastic packaging waste, recycling rate of 38% in 2020
In 2020, each person in the EU will generate an average of 34.6 kg of plastic packaging waste. Of this, 13.0 kg was recycled. This information comes from packaging waste data published by Eurostat. Between 2010 and 2020, the amount of plastic packaging waste generated per inhabitant in the EU increased by 23% (+6.5 kg). During the same period, recycling of plastic packaging waste increased by 32% (+3.2 kg). Despite this progress, the amount of unrecycled plastic packaging per resident has increased by 3.4kg since 2010, due to an even greater increase in the absolute amount of plastic packaging waste generated.
Changes in approach lead to less plastic recycling
In 2020, stricter recycling reporting rules come into effect. These measures include uniform recycling calculation points and stricter accounting for the composite packaging material portion. As a result, a temporary drop of 3 percentage points was observed (from 41% in 2019 to about 38% in 2020). The Netherlands, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus recycled more than half of all plastic packaging waste. In contrast, in Malta, France, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Poland and Austria, less than a third of plastic packaging waste is recycled.
