ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS

 
 

 

 

 

 

    
       
             

 Waste

      
 
 
last update: April 2007
  
       
             

 Municipal waste treatment
       
             
                       
 
latest
year available
Municipal
waste
collected
  
Municipal
waste
landfilled
  
Municipal
waste
incinerated
  
Municipal
waste
recycled
  
Municipal
waste
composted
 
         
1000 tonnes
  
%
  
%
  
%
  
%
  
Albania 2005
634
95.1
0.0
4.9
0.0
Algeria 2003
8500
99.9
...
0.1
...
Andorra 2005
38
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Anguilla 2005
5
100.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Antigua and Barbuda 2005
21
1
100.0
1
...
...
...
Armenia 2004
376
100.0
...
...
...
Australia 2003
8903
69.7
...
30.3
...
Austria 2004
4588
6.7
2
21.1
26.5
44.7
3
Belarus 2004
2661
100.0
...
...
...
Belgium 2003
4608
12.6
5
35.7
31.3
5
22.8
Belize 2003
86
100.0
...
...
...
Benin 2002
986
0.0
0.0
...
...
Brazil 2000
57563
62.7
0.3
1.4
4.1
British Virgin Islands 2005
37
0.0
80.3
6
0.0
0.0
Bulgaria 2002
3199
99.7
...
...
...
Canada 2004
13375
7
73.3
8
...
26.8
12.5
9
Chile 2005
5459
100.0
...
...
...
China 2003
148565
43.1
2.5
...
4.8
China, Hong Kong SAR 2005
6013
56.9
...
43.1
...
China, Macao SAR 2005
163
10
39.7
…
...
...
Colombia 2005
20776
80.4
...
0.9
...
Croatia 2004
1079
96.1
...
2.5
1.4
Cuba 2005
4416
84.1
0.0
4.8
11.1
Cyprus 2002
500
...
0.0
...
0.0
Czech Republic 2004
2841
11
79.8
14.0
1.3
3.2
Denmark 2003
3618
5.1
54.0
12
25.6
15.3
Dominica 2005
21
100.0
...
...
...
Finland 2004
2374
13
59.9
9.9
30.1
14
...
France 2005
33963
36.0
33.8
15.8
14.3
French Guiana 2003
110
72.7
…
…
…
Germany 2004
48434
17.7
24.6
33.1
17.1
Greece 2003
4710
91.9
0.0
8.1
0.0
Guadeloupe 1999
217
98.0
2.0
0.0
0.0
Hungary 2003
4387
90.4
15
5.6
2.7
1.1
Iceland 2004
147
72.1
8.8
15.6
8.8
Ireland 2005
2847
16
66.1
...
33.9
14
...
Israel 2003
5527
79.0
0.0
21.0
17
...
Italy 2005
31677
54.4
12.1
18
...
33.3
19
Japan 2003
54367
20
3.4
21
74.0
16.8
22
...
Korea, Republic of 2004
18252
36.4
14.4
49.2
0.0
Kyrgyzstan 2004
1602
4
100.0
4
...
...
...
Latvia 1999
292
100.0
...
...
...
Lebanon 2001
1440
41.6
...
3.3
7.6
Lithuania 2002
1000
100.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
Luxembourg 2003
306
23
18.9
38.9
23.2
19.3
Madagascar 2004
341
24
100.0
24
0.0
0.0
0.0
Martinique 2004
340
67.4
31.9
0.0
0.0
Mauritius 2003
351
100.0
...
...
...
Mexico 2006
36088
96.7
0.0
3.3
0.0
Monaco 2002
40
56.5
25
…
3.7
17
...
Morocco 2003
4710
90.0
...
10.0
...
Netherlands 2004
10161
1.7
32.3
25.4
23.5
New Zealand 1999
1541
26
84.7
27
...
15.3
28
...
Niger 2005
9750
64.0
12.0
4.0
...
Norway 2004
1746
7
25.9
24.7
29
33.6
30
15.3
Palestine 2001
1350
31
100.0
31
...
...
...
Panama 1998
379
100.0
...
...
...
Peru 2001
4740
65.7
...
14.7
...
Poland 2005
9354
92.2
0.5
3.9
3.4
Portugal 2005
5009
64.1
21.1
8.6
6.3
Réunion 2004
461
89.8
...
...
5.6
Romania 2002
6865
97.5
...
2.5
...
Singapore 2005
5088
15.8
44.8
39.4
0.0
Slovakia 2005
1468
77.9
12.5
1.1
1.4
Slovenia 2002
862
81.1
0.6
10.1
1.3
Spain 2004
22735
32
51.7
6.7
9.0
33
32.7
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2002
38
84.9
0.0
15.1
17
...
Sweden 2005
4347
4.8
50.2
33.9
10.5
Switzerland 2005
4855
0.5
49.8
33.9
34
15.9
Syrian Arab Republic 2003
7500
93.9
35
5.3
1.1
36
...
Thailand 2000
13972
...
0.8
14.3
17
...
Tunisia 2004
1316
99.9
...
...
0.1
Turkey 2004
24237
97.8
0.0
0.0
1.4
United Kingdom 2005
35077
64.3
8.4
17.4
9.3
United States 2005
222863
54.3
37
13.6
38
23.8
8.4
Uruguay 2000
910
...
...
0.0
0.0
Yemen 2005
1272
100.0
...
...
...


Sources:

UNSD/UNEP 2001, 2004 and 2006 questionnaires on Environment statistics, Waste section.
OECD/Eurostat 2004 questionnaire on Environment statistics, Waste section.
OECD Environmental Data, Compendium 2006/2007, Waste section.

Footnotes:

  1. Data refer to Antigua only.
  2. Direct delivery without any pretreatment.
  3. Includes amounts treated in mechanical-biological facilities.
  4. Unit: thousand cubic meters.
  5. Includes residues from incineration.
  6. Value refers to the main island of Tortola only.
  7. Household waste generated only.
  8. Data refer to household waste landfilled or incinerated.
  9. Composting: from residential and non-residential sources.
  10. Data only refer to waste collected from households and sea by a licensed company.
  11. Includes amounts undergoing mechanical sorting before treatment/disposal.
  12. Data refer to municipal waste incinerated with energy recovery.
  13. Data refer to total amounts of municipal waste managed.
  14. Includes composting.
  15. Excludes residues from other operations (54000 tonnes in 2003).
  16. Data refer to municipal waste landfilled and recovered (include street cleansing waste).
  17. Data refer to recycling and composting together.
  18. Incineration: includes refuse derived fuel.
  19. Composting: includes mechanical/biological treatment.
  20. Data refer to waste treated by municipalities and separate collection for recycling by the private sector.
  21. Direct disposal (excluding residues from other treatments, 6.6 million t.).
  22. Data refer to amounts directly recycled (incl. private collection) and recovered from intermediate processing.
  23. Data refer to total amounts of municipal waste managed in the country (exclude exported amounts).
  24. For the calculations, only the six important locations of "Faritany" (Antanarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga, Toamasia, Toliary) and the cities of Toalagnaro and Nosy-be were taken into account.
  25. Residues of incineration of waste are landfilled in France.
  26. Data include landfilled household waste and recycled packaging waste.
  27. Landfill: household waste excluding construction and demolition waste.
  28. Packaging waste only.
  29. Excluding residues landfilled.
  30. Recycling: waste separately collected (excludes food, park and garden waste which is included in composting).
  31. Data refer to solid waste reaching dumping site which was taken from the Dumping Site Survey implemented in 2001.
  32. Household and similar waste.
  33. Recycling: separate collection.
  34. Excludes batteries (2.4 thousand tonnes) and electric and electronic equipment (82.5 thousand tonnes).
  35. Data pertains to domestic waste (4,100,000 t/year), municipal rubble and soil (1,000,000 t/year), green waste in coastal towns (40,000 t/year), and building waste (1,900,000 t/year).
  36. Data pertains to automobile waste.
  37. Landfill: after recovery and incineration.
  38. Incineration: after recovery.


Definitions & Technical notes:

Municipal waste includes household waste and similar waste. The definition also includes bulky waste (e.g. white goods, old furniture, mattresses) and yard waste, leaves, grass clippings, street sweepings, the content of litter containers, and market cleansing waste, if managed as waste. It includes waste originating from: households, commerce and trade, small businesses, office buildings and institutions (schools, hospitals, government buildings). It also includes 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 household waste, and fractions collected separately for recovery operations (through door-to-door collection and/or through voluntary deposits). In the absence of data for municipal waste collected, data for municipal waste generated is given, if available.

Landfill is the final placement of waste into or onto the land in a controlled or uncontrolled way.

Municipal waste landfilled includes all amounts going to landfill, either directly, or after sorting and/or treatment, as well as residues from recovery and disposal operations going to landfill. The definition covers both landfill in internal sites (i.e. where a generator of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of generation) and in external sites.

Incineration is the controlled combustion of waste with or without energy recovery.

Recycling is defined as any reintroduction of waste material in a production process that diverts it from the waste stream, except reuse as a fuel. Both reprocessing as the same type of product and for different purposes are included. Recycling within industrial plants i.e. at the place where the waste is generated, is excluded.

Compostingis a biological process that submits biodegradable waste to anaerobic or aerobic decomposition, and that results in a product that is recovered.

The sum of the different types of waste disposal may be greater than the total amount of municipal waste collected, as these facilities may be used for other types of waste, or because of double counting due to the landfilling of the residues of incineration, or to the incineration of residues from composting.


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, it must be remembered that the figures only cover waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities. Therefore:
- Amounts of waste will vary, depending on how far 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. 


Policy Relevance:

In many cases, a considerable proportion of municipal waste, particularly glass, paper and metals can be economically recycled. Organic matter can be composted, with or without methane recovery, and used to enrich soil. Another fraction of municipal waste can be burnt as a fuel to generate heat or electricity, preferably in special incinerators that reduce emissions of dioxins and other harmful pollutants. 

Depending on the type of waste, how the landfill site is constructed and the hydrological conditions, landfilling can lead to environmental problems such as leaching of nutrients, heavy metals and other toxic compounds, emission of greenhouse gases (CH4 and CO2) and loss of natural areas. Hence, in the best case, landfill should only be used when other possible waste treatment methods have been exhausted.

Some towns and cities rely heavily on the informal sector (scavangers) to recycle waste, and this may be the sole source of income for whole families, with women and children also actively involved. As this is totally unregulated, the workers are often subject to accidents, to respiratory ilnesses, to skin infections and other health problems.

United Nations Statistics Division - Environment Statistics