Performance in the treatment of municipal waste: Are European Union member states so different?

Juana Castillo-Giménez; Antonio Montañés; Andrés J Picazo-Tadeo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.016

Performance in the treatment of municipal waste: Are European Union member states so different?

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Oct 15:687:1305-1314. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.016. Epub 2019 Jun 7.

Authors

Juana Castillo-Giménez¹, Antonio Montañés², Andrés J Picazo-Tadeo³

Affiliations

¹ University of Valencia, Spain; INTECO Joint Research Unit, Spain.
² University of Zaragoza, Spain.
³ University of Valencia, Spain; INTECO Joint Research Unit, Spain. Electronic address: andres.j.picazo@uv.es.

PMID: 31412464
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.016

Abstract

Efficient management and treatment of municipal waste is essential for achieving green growth. Recent studies have revealed convergence in European Union (EU) member states' performance in municipal waste treatment, particularly since the transposition of the 2008 European Waste Framework Directive into national laws. However, there are still notable differences between countries. In this paper, we calculate a composite indicator of performance in municipal waste treatment at the country-level. We also present an in-depth examination of differences in performance across EU member states. Our results show that the best performers-mainly high income Northern and Central European countries-treat larger quantities of waste per capita, mostly through recycling and composting and digestion. At the opposite end of the ranking, the worst performers-mostly poorer Eastern European countries-treat smaller amounts of waste per capita, largely through landfilling. Our main conclusion is that further policy measures aimed at reducing cross-country differences in waste treatment performance are needed in the EU.

Keywords: Composite indicators of performance; European Union; Municipal waste treatment.