Belgium – a packaging waste AND plastic packaging recycling champion!
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has issued some striking figures on the subject of waste handling in the European Union between 2013 and 2023. Belgium has earned a feather in its cap right across the board – though there is still room for improvement, of course.
Packaging waste mainly consists of paper and cardboard (40.4%), plastic (19.8%), glass (18.8%), wood (15.8%), metal (4.9%) and miscellaneous other materials (0.2%).
In 2023, the average EU citizen produced just under 12% more waste than in 2013. So the situation therefore isn't exactly ideal. On the other hand, a turnaround seems to have begun in 2022, but much work still needs to be done to bring the figures down again to below the levels recorded in 2013. We have also observed the same trend in the case of plastic. There too, the quantities being produced have decreased slightly since 2022, but they are still far removed from the lowest level that was recorded in 2013. And though the recycling percentage is now higher, it can and certainly must be increased further.
Belgium is already a shining example. It currently recycles over 70% of its packaging waste, which will become mandatory in 2030 in line with EU requirements, and as much as 59.5% of its plastic packagings, even though the standard in that regard currently lies at 55%. Of the 27 EU Member States, Latvia is the only other country to exceed that level. And what do you think about the following extraordinary effort in particular? Here in Belgium, we barely used 4 plastic shopping bags per person in 2023, which puts us at the very top of the league of EU Member States!