Benelux Takes the Lead: 2025 EU Recycling Goals
The Benelux countries are among the nine EU member states that are on track to achieve the recycling targets for 2025. This applies to both urban waste and packaging waste. This is stated in a recent report by the European Commission.
The Benelux countries perform very well in this ranking, along with Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia. The other 18 countries are at risk of not meeting one or either one of the 2025 goals. Remarkably, the three Benelux countries already exceeded 70% for packaging waste recycling in 2020, whereas the European targets aim for rates above 65% by 2025.
Urban Waste Challenge: Striving for Sustainable Solutions
Every year, Europeans produce an average of 530 kg of urban waste per person (household waste and similar waste from businesses). Despite increasing recycling efforts and reduced landfilling, this waste stream remains one of the most complex to manage. In the EU, about 50% of urban waste is recycled or composted, while 23% is landfilled. The amount of packaging waste is steadily increasing. Between 2013 and 2020, the amount of produced packaging waste in the entire EU has risen by 15% to nearly 80 million tons. Approximately 64% of packaging waste is now recycled. More than 75% of paper, cardboard, and metal packaging is recycled, compared to less than 40% of plastic.
In the report, the European Commission provides recommendations to countries that still have a way to go in order to achieve the European targets, building on the financial and technical support provided to enhance waste management performance.
You can download the full report here : https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_3105