Introduction
Recycling and waste prevention is key to a circular economy. All EU member states must report on the generation and treatment of municipal waste and comply with binding recycling targets set in the Waste Framework Directive. Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are all at risk of not fulfilling the 2025 recycling target. The Waste Framework Directive, Recital 10 of Directive (EU) 2018/851 and Eurostat Guidance offer the definition and guidance for the delimitation of Municipal waste:
“Municipal waste is defined as waste from households and waste from other sources, such as retail, administration, education, health services, accommodation and food services, and other services and activities, which is similar in nature and composition to waste from households.” (Recital 10 of Directive (EU) 2018/851)
The Waste Framework Directive establishes that the reporting must be done using the EU's methodology. Through dialogue with Eurostat and Nordic colleagues, it has been identified that the practical operation of the harmonized methodology for measurement of municipal waste varies significantly across EU member states, including between the Nordic countries. This challenges the comparability of the countries’ data on municipal waste. In 2021 it was concluded that the significant differences in waste data between Sweden and Denmark is probably due to divergent administration of the same EU methodology. The purpose of this project is to investigate this problem further across the Nordic.
This report presents the results from the project on municipal waste carried out during 2024 to the beginning of 2025 by Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish environmental authorities. The project maps the practical operation and administration of the existing common EU methodology for reporting generated and treated municipal waste across the participating Nordic countries. The mapping is used for forming shared recommendations for best practices of the EU methodology on municipal waste and recommendations for changes to the methodology, which will improve the comparability of municipal waste statistics.
The report is aimed at fellow EU member states and other interested states (including civil service agents and policy makers) in order to enhance the understanding of data published about municipal waste and highlight some of the issues and practical solutions in the participating countries. Additionally, the report is directed at Eurostat and European politicians in order to highlight the importance of practical and administrational differences on statistics and specific needs for clarifications in the definition of municipal waste and suggestions on changes in the methodology.
This project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers as part of the program Vision 2030 (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2020). The project contributes particularly to the visions for "A green Nordic" by enhancing the knowledge of issues related to municipal waste statistics, increasing the future availability of securing more comparable statistics across the Nordic and possible in the EU by highlighting the current issues challenging a streamlined measuring of municipal waste. This is key to reducing our environmental footprint and remaining within the planetary boundaries.
Abbreviation or term | Description |
ALR | Average Loss Rates for sorted waste It can be used to calculate further losses in order to determine the total amount of waste reported as recycled, as per the Commission Delegated Decision C (2021) 6295 final. |
C&D(-waste) | Construction and demolition waste |
EPA | Environmental Protection Agency For Iceland it refers to their Environmental and Energy Agency. |
EPR (schemes) | Extended Producer Responsibility. “Systems set up to ensure that producers bear the financial or financial and organizational responsibility for the management of waste stage of a product’s life cycle.” (EUR-Lex, n.d). |
EU legal framework | Refers to the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1004, Commission Decision 2000/532/EC and legislation steering reporting of packaging Directive 94/62/EC, electrical and electronic equipment Directive 2012/19/EU and batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. |
Eurostat Guidance | Eurostat Guidance documents including “Guidance document on municipal waste data collection – methodology”, “Municipal waste – special cases” and “Questionnaire on municipal waste statistics”, “Questionnaire on municipal waste obligations”, “Questionnaire on landfill rate”, which are available on Eurostat’s website “Waste methodology”. |
Eurostat reporting or The Joint Questionnaire | Refers to the Annual reporting of the Municipal Waste Joint Questionnaire Eurostat/OECD, the excel-file. Notice that the Questionnaire has changed during the years for instance in numbers of tables. |
Generated amounts of waste | The amount of waste generated in total. Generated amount of waste on each fraction is the sum of the separately collected and the amount of the waste fraction in residual waste. |
LoW codes | List of Waste codes given in the Annex of Commission Decision 2000/532/EC. |
MW | Municipal Waste as defined in Article 3(2b) of Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC and Recital 10 of Directive (EU) 2018/851. |
MW-fraction | Municipal Waste fractions refer to the 12 fractions of waste, that the member states are obligated to report in the Joint Questionnaire: Metals, Glass, Plastic, Paper and cardboard, Bio-waste, Wood, Textiles, Electrical and electronic equipment, Batteries, Bulky waste, Mixed waste and other. |
NACE-codes | The ‘statistical classification of economic activities’ in the European Community, abbreviated as NACE, is the classification of economic activities in the European Union (EU) as described in regulation (EC) 1893/2006 NACE Rev. 2. |
Other sources | other sources can be private businesses (retail shops, restaurants, etc.), and public services such as schools or elderly homes. Described in Recital 10 of Directive (EU) 2018/851. |
PRO | Producers’ Responsibility Organization. Organization in which producers collaborate to fulfil their responsibilities regarding EPR schemes. |
R/D-codes | Recovery and disposal operations codes List of codes for disposal operations given in Annex I of Directive 2008/98/EC. List of codes for recovery operations given in Annex II of Directive 2008/98/EC. |
Separately collected amounts of waste | Separately collected waste includes single materials collections, or multiple materials, which are collected together for recycling. |
WEEE | Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment. |
WFD | Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC. |
About the Project Streamlined Measuring of Municipal Waste
Project Group
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen), The Icelandic Environmental and Energy Agency (Umhverfis- og orkustofnun), The Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet), The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket). Additionally, the Norwegian consultants MEPEX and Swedish Statistical Bureau SCB and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute IVL have been represented in the project group.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen), The Icelandic Environmental and Energy Agency (Umhverfis- og orkustofnun), The Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet), The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket). Additionally, the Norwegian consultants MEPEX and Swedish Statistical Bureau SCB and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute IVL have been represented in the project group.
The national experts on municipal waste from the four countries have worked together as equals to ensure the technical and professional integrity of the report’s content.
Project Coordinator
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
Method
The project group has met three times physically during the project and additionally had frequently online workshops during the project period.
The project group has met three times physically during the project and additionally had frequently online workshops during the project period.
Stakeholder Observers
Finland, Greenland, The Faeroe Islands and Åland have been informed about the project.
Finland, Greenland, The Faeroe Islands and Åland have been informed about the project.
Project Period
January 2024 to March 2025
January 2024 to March 2025
Budget
DKK 3.7 million
DKK 3.7 million
Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers
- A mapping of how and what data on municipal waste are collected and administered in participating countries, including:
- A description of how municipal waste data is collected and how information on generation and treatment of municipal waste is reported to the national authorities
- A description of delimitations to what is considered to be municipal waste, which includes a description of what types of waste are included and excluded, as well as what is considered similar in nature and composition to waste from households
- A description of how different treatment options are defined, including how each participating country administers the common EU methodology for measuring recycling
- A description of how the collection and processing of data has been changed due to the new EU methodology
- An analysis of how different incentive structures shape data collection and reporting practices.
Accordingly, the analytical part of the project was started to uncover central differences and similarities in the countries’ data collection and reporting practices to formulate common recommendations for clarification and changes of EU methodology on MW and best practices. This work was compiled into the report’s second output:
- A shared recommendation for how the EU common methodology should be applied, as well as recommendations for best practices on collection and administration of data on municipal waste generation and recycling.
In a collaboration between all participating countries, this final report has been prepared and approved as a common basis among several of the Nordic countries in order to ensure clarity of methods and recommendations.
During the project, Eurostat participated in selected meetings and discussions in order to maximize the potential of the project’s results.
However, this report will not cover all of the above-mentioned topics. The report does not offer “A description of how different treatment options” since the project group discovered that none of the participating countries have any significant issues with regard to the EU methodology on treatment options for municipal waste. In addition, the countries’ interpretation of practices of the treatment options is considered to be straightforward. Alternatively, the project group detected the significant issue to be related to the delimitation of municipal waste and the methodology for reporting and calculating recycled municipal waste, which has therefore been the focus for this project, as reflected in this report.
Furthermore, the project group has discussed and analyzed 1d “An analysis of how different incentive structures shape data collection and reporting practices”. The focus has been to investigate whether there are relevant structures that are essential to keep in mind when comparing data based on the group's existing knowledge and not exploring other possible structures. The project group concludes that there are no relevant incentive structures across countries affecting data collection and reporting practices based on the project group’s existing knowledge. However, the project has identified relevant country-specific factors, structures and incentives relevant for individual countries. These are described in the country-specific remarks and are relevant to keep in mind when understanding the individual country’s data collection and reporting practices.
