Municipal waste generation in the EU continues to decline

Municipal waste volumes generated in Europe fell in 2010 for the third year in succession. According to the latest figures released by the statistics office Eurostat, the 27 EU member countries generated a total of around 252 million tonnes of municipal waste in 2010. This is 3 million tonnes less than in the previous year and 7 million tonnes less than in 2008.
Based on provisional population figures published by Eurostat, each EU resident generated an average of 503 kg of wastes in 2010, down from 510 kg in 2009. The per capita figure is highest for Cyprus at 778 kg followed by Denmark (673 kg) and Luxembourg (679 kg). Latvians and Estonians generated the lowest volumes of municipal wastes per resident at 304kg and 311kg, respectively.