ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

 

 

 

 

 
               

 Waste

     
last update: August 2009
 
               

 Municipal waste collection

               
               
 
latest
year
available
Municipal
waste
collected
  
Population served by
municipal waste
collection
  

Municipal waste
collected per
 capita served

  
         
1000 tonnes
  
%
  
kg
  
Albania
2005
634
77.0
265
Algeria 2003
8 500
80.0
333
Andorra 2007
32
100.0
387
Anguilla 2007
12
100.0
1
853
Antigua and Barbuda 2007
112
95.0
  
1 374
Armenia 2007
392
79.5
160
Australia 2003
8 903
2
...
...
Austria 2007
4 950
100.0
596
Azerbaijan 2007
1 631
3
...
...
Belarus 2007
3 220
100.0
331
Belgium 2007
5 211
4
100.0
495
4
Belize 2005
120
50.2
847
Benin 2002
986
23.0
603
Bolivia 2007
849
5
...
...
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1999
1 765
...
...
Brazil 2007
51 432
83.0
326
British Virgin Islands 2005
37
...
...
Brunei Darussalam 2002
196
...
...
Bulgaria 2007
3 593
6
81.1
7
468
6
Canada 2004
13 375
8
99.0
9
422
 8
Chile 2006
5 333
10
...
...
China 2003
148 565
...
...
China, Hong Kong SAR 2007
6 252
100.0
900
China, Macao SAR 2007
289
100.0
564
Colombia 2005
20 776
95.0
508
Costa Rica 2002
1 280
73.0
428
Croatia 2006
1 894
92.0
1
464
Cuba 2005
4 416
75.6
522
Cyprus 2007
587
6
...
754
4
Czech Republic 2007
3 025
100.0
295
Denmark 2007
4 364
4
100.0
801
4
Dominica 2005
21
94.0
330
Dominican Republic 2005
1 016
 11
...
...
Egypt 2001
14 500
...
...
Estonia 2007
719
6
79.0
12
536
4
Finland 2007
2 675
100.0
506
France 2007
35 233
4
100.0
571
4
French Guiana 2006
66
...
...
Georgia 2007
855
60.0
327
Germany 2007
46 448
4
100.0
564
4
Greece 2007
5 002
100.0
450
Guadeloupe 2005
175
100.0
383
Guatemala 2002
604
30.5
168
Guyana 2007
210
87.0
316
Hungary 2007
4 594
6
89.5
13
456
6
Iceland 2007
174
4
100.0
565
4
India 2001
17 569
14
...
...
Iraq 2005
5 446
55.6
347
Ireland 2007
3 391
6
76.0
1
788
6
Israel 2007
4 321
...
...
Italy 2007
32 776
4
100.0
553
4
Jamaica 2004
709
...
...
Japan 2003
54 367
15
99.8
428
15
Jordan 2006
2 310
...
...
Korea, Republic of 2004
18 252
99.3
7
388
Kuwait 2005
837
...
...
Kyrgyzstan 2007
1 659
16
...
...
Latvia 2007
861
6
50.0
17
377
6
Lebanon 2005
1 474
...
...
Lithuania 2007
1 354
...
...
Luxembourg 2007
331
4
100.0
697
4
Madagascar 2007
419
17.7
127
Maldives 2005
19
...
...
Malta 2007
263
100.0
648
Marshall Islands 2007
26
4
60.0
731
4
Martinique 2006
325
100.0
812
Mauritius 2007
432
98.0
  
347
  
Mexico 2006
36 088
90.0
377
Monaco 2007
41
100.0
1 260
Morocco 2000
6 500
...
...
Nepal 2002
418
...
...
Netherlands 2007
10 332
4
100.0
628
4
New Zealand 1999
1 541
18
...
...
Niger 2005
9 750
...
...
Norway 2007
3 859
99.0
19
826
Palestine 2001
1 350
20
...
...
Panama 1998
379
...
...
Peru 2001
4 740
75.0
239
Poland 2007
12 264
6
...
322
4
Portugal 2007
5 007
4
100.0
472
4
Republic of Moldova 2007
1 820
...
...
Réunion 2006
572
...
...
Romania 2007
8 183
6
90.0
7
379
4
Russian Federation 2000
207 400
16, 21
...
...
Senegal 2005
465
22
21.4
193
22
Serbia 2005
2 890
23
...
...
Singapore 2007
4 823
24
100.0
1 075
24
Slovakia 2007
1 669
6
100.0
309
6
Slovenia 2007
886
6
93.0
7
441
6
Spain 2007
26 154
6
...
588
4
Sri Lanka 2004
1 036
...
...
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2002
38
100.0
350
Sweden 2007
4 717
100.0
515
Switzerland 2007
5 460
25
99.0
734
25
Syrian Arab Republic 2003
7 500
...
...
Thailand 2000
13 972
...
...
The Former Yugoslav Rep. of Macedonia 2005
2 526
...
...
Trinidad and Tobago 2002
425
26
...
...
Tunisia 2004
1 316
...
...
Turkey 2007
30 000
6
72.8
19
430
27
Uganda 2006
224
...
...
Ukraine 2007
4 388
...
...
United Kingdom 2007
34 780
100.0
571
United States 2005
222 863
  
100.0
  
736
  
Uruguay 2000
910
  
...
  
...
  
Yemen 2007
1 447
 28
...
  
...
  
Zambia 2005
389
 29
20.0
  
166
 29
 

Sources:

UNSD/UNEP Questionnaires on Environment Statistics, Waste section.
OECD/Eurostat Questionnaire on the State of the Environment, Waste section.
Eurostat environment statistics data website http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/environment/data/main_tables.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, New York, 2009 (advanced Excel tables).

Footnotes:

  1. 2005 data
  2. Data refer to household waste generated.
  3. Municipal solid waste (garbage) collected and removed to the dustbin of utilities.
  4. Country estimate.
  5. Data provided by Municipal Sanitation Services from the capital cities and El Alto; Sucre is excluded.
  6. Data refer to the amount of municipal waste generated.
  7. 2002 data.
  8. Data refer to household waste only.
  9. 1996 data.
  10. Provisional data.
  11. The information Includes the National District (Capital of the Republic) and the Santo Domingo Province.
  12. 2001 data.
  13. 2003 data.
  14. Total municipal solid waste generated in 299 Class-I cities.
  15. Data refer to waste treated by municipalities and separate collection for recycling by the private sector.
  16. Unit: thousand cubic meters.
  17. 1999 data.
  18. Data include landfilled household waste and recycled packaging waste.
  19. 2004 data.
  20. Data refer to solid waste reaching dumping site which was taken from the Dumping Site Survey implemented in 2001.
  21. Data refer to municipal waste, specifically rubbish transported by trucks and liquid wastes transported by cesspool trucks.
  22. The quantities of waste collected by municipal services cover only a few years and are available only for the urban community of Dakar.
  23. Data refer to Serbia and Montenegro.
  24. Municipal waste includes industrial waste from manufacturing industries.
  25. Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
  26. Data are from Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL). The landfills managed by SWMCOL collect 85% of solid waste.
  27. Eurostat estimate.
  28. Data refer to household waste that is collected from centres (capitals) of governorate only (does not include rural areas, nor other directorates, nor other areas in the governorates). It is waste that is collected from houses, commercial shops and street cleaning. It is collected through municipal official cars and deported to official landfills in governorates and to be buried there.
  29. Data refer to urban population only.


Definitions & Technical notes:

Municipal waste includes waste originating from: households, commerce and trade, small businesses, office buildings and institutions (schools, hospitals, government buildings). It also includes bulky waste (e.g. white goods, old furniture, mattresses) and waste from selected municipal services, e.g. waste from park and garden maintenance, waste from street cleaning services (street sweepings, the content of litter containers, market cleansing waste), if managed as waste. The definition excludes waste from municipal sewage network and treatment, municipal construction and demolition waste.

Municipal waste collected refers to waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities, as well as municipal waste collected by the private sector. It includes mixed waste, and fractions collected separately for recovery operations (through door-to-door collection and/or through voluntary deposits).

Municipal waste collected per capita served is calculated by UNSD by dividing the municipal waste collected by the number of people served by the waste collection system.


Data Quality:

Data on municipal waste collected are usually gathered through surveys of municipalities, which are responsible for waste collection and disposal, or from transport companies that collect waste and transport it to a disposal site. Such surveys deliver fairly reliable data. However, the figures only cover waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities. Therefore:
- Amounts of waste will vary, depending on the extent that municipal waste collection covers small industries and the services sector.
- Waste collected by the informal sector, waste generated in areas not covered by the municipal waste collection system or illegally dumped waste are nor included.
Caution is therefore advised when comparing countries.