The message as expressed by the EU institutions is clear: the EU wants to make Europe cleaner and more effective in recycling valuable materials. The reality in the Member States is however very different from what these ambitious objectives would suggest. In order to assess how effective the Union’s new recycling targets will be, it is important to assess how the different EU Member States perform in the area of recycling at the present time.

The countries of the European Union are known to be very advanced when it comes to recycling. The findings of the European Environmental Agency’s (EEA) report on municipal waste management across European Countries, published in late 2016, confirms this overall trend. According to the report, which is based on Eurostat data from 2014, the EU-27 countries improved their recycling quotas by 13% on average, and from 31% to 44% overall in the quantity of municipal waste recycled.

Europe has some of the most advanced recycling rates worldwide, with Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries being able to reintroduce a majority of their municipal waste into the material lifecycle as secondary raw materials. Europe is home to some of the largest and most innovative recycling companies in the World, has a high level of inner-European competition between operators, and is in a constant race to drive innovation in order to develop the recycling technologies of tomorrow.

The recycling industry is not only good for the environment, but it also spares resources, produces energy, and therefore contributes to the European economy. The environmental services industry has created entire new sectors and industries, providing for thousands of jobs and fostering economic growth.  

Although some Member States of the EU account for the highest recycling rates worldwide, others have fallen behind the EU’s project for a fully circular economy. While some countries have already matched the European Union’s mandated recycling rate of a minimum 50% recycled municipal waste by 2020, many will miss this target by a wide margin.

In fact only half of the European Union’s Member States at best are likely to meet the EU’s recycling target in less than three years. Even less countries are likely to meet the 2030 objective thereafter. The last available comparable data from 2014 clearly demonstrates this gap in European Recyclage. The data shows that Germany is far ahead in the area of recycling, with more than 64% of municipal household waste being recycled. Belgium, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands were able to recycle between 50% and 56% of municipal waste in 2014.

However, at the other end of the spectrum countries such as Romania, Cyprus, Malta and Slovakia still account for recycling rates for municipal waste of below 20%. Other EU Member States such as France and Spain will also likely miss the recycling and landfilling objectives set by the EU for 2020. The performance of countries such as France and Spain is rather surprising, as these countries are home to some of the largest and most innovative environmental services companies in the world.

In what concerns the objectives set by the EU for landfilling, there are also important disparities in the performances of Member States. Countries such as Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium send almost no municipal waste to landfill. Others, including Spain, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania or Slovakia, send more than half of their waste to landfill. According to Eurostat data from 2014, Malta still sends up to 80% of its municipal waste to landfill. While many countries in the north of Europe have progressively eliminated their controlled landfilling capacities, others still struggle to do as much as contain uncontrolled and illegal landfilling.    

The recycling average of 44% for the EU-27 is therefore somewhat distorted, as regions with recycling rates above average, and ahead of the legally mandated recycling quota, happen to be densely populated areas such as Germany or the Benelux countries. These countries elevate the EU average and hide the significant shortcomings of many other EU Member States.    

The report released by the EEA demonstrates that the compliance with recycling rates is often linked to the stringent implementation of incentives and deterrents. Countries that have implemented high landfill taxes will likely landfill less and recycle more than those with no or a low tax for landfilling. Taxation has proven to be inherently effective, if one follows the findings of the EEA’s report. As is stated in the report: “All the countries that show landfill rates well below the EU-28 average of 28 % have either banned landfill of biodegradable or mixed municipal waste, or implemented a ban combined with a landfill tax of at least EUR 30/tonne.”

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