Generation and treatment of waste by economy and category(all economic activities and households, kg per capita and %, 2018)

In 2018, the EU-27 generated 2.3 billion tonnes (5 190 kg per capita) of waste. Member States’ waste generation ranges from 23 253 kg per capita in Finland to 920 kg in Latvia. Four countries (DE, FR, RO, PL) account for 50 % of total EU waste. Twelve Member States account for 91 %. In terms of economic activities, construction, for instance, represents more than one third of total waste generation, with 0.8 billion tonnes (36 %). In 2018, roughly 2.1 billion tonnes of waste were treated in the EU-27 (4 814 kg per capita). While this does not include exported waste, it does include treatment of waste imported into the EU-27. The reported amounts are therefore not directly comparable with those on waste generation. More than half of the waste was treated in recovery operations (54 %). The bar chart on the right shows recovery and disposal of waste per Member State.