We throw less waste into landfills than the Danes and Germans. Poland among the most eco-friendly in the EU [MAPA]
Poland in the five years between 2018 and 2023 increased packaging recovery from 58.7 to 67.4 percent. – according to the latest available Eurostat data published on Wednesday. In 2023, the average Pole accounted for almost 184 kg of packaging waste, of which 116 kg was recycled, i.e. 67.4%.
This is almost perfectly at the level of the EU average, which was 67.5%. Thus, in terms of recovery percentage, we ranked 12th out of 28 countries whose data was collected by Eurostat.
And this is not all positive news for Poland's image as an ecological country. Not only do we recover a relatively large amount of packaging waste, but the average Pole also produces much less of it than those ahead of us in recycling percentage. By subtracting generated waste from recycled waste, we obtain in the case of Poland 56.3 kg of garbage per capita that went to landfills in 2023while the EU average is 57.9 kg.
Read also: Carbon footprint of the deposit system. Surprising conclusions from the report
Much more packaging goes to landfills in countries that are considered role models of ecological changes, e.g. Denmark (71.7 kg) and Germany (65.9 kg per inhabitant). In Ireland, there is as much as 91.6 kg of packaging waste per capita, which ends up on mountains of garbage. Finland, Italy and Spain are also behind us.
Moreover, in 2023 we made a huge leap, because the amount of waste going to landfills decreased from 65.5 kg to 56.3 kg during the year.
Record holders in paper
Although we are far from the EU leader in the number of waste incineration plants, we have such paper recovery that only 0.6 kg of such packaging goes to landfills per year, which is the lowest rate in the EU. A year earlier it was 4.5 kg. In Europe, only Icelanders dispose less paper on mountains of garbage.
There is also little left for metal packaging to be sent to landfills in Poland – only 1.3 kg per year per inhabitant in 2023. In this category, we are in 8th place in the EU, and 9th in Europe (we are still ahead of Norway) out of 28 countries examined.
In the case of PET plastic packaging, we are further in the ranking, but still above the EU average. 18.5 kg is sent to landfills per capita, which ranks 11th in Europe. The EU average is as much as 20.4 kg and the people who leave the most without recycling are: the Irish, Hungarians, Norwegians and Danes.
In the case of glass packaging, we are much less effective, because 11.8 kg of waste went to landfills after recycling, and this is only 20th place in the EU and 22nd out of 28 surveyed countries in Europe. Moreover, in 2023 there was an increase in the amount of glass bottles going to landfills from 11 to 11.8 kg. But the results that are ahead of us are not much better: Greece, Iceland, Croatia, Italy and Latvia.
As you can see, the worst results are in glass and PET packaging. Their recovery is the main goal of introducing a deposit system and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.
