Environmental Data Centre on Waste

Municipal Waste Landfilled, kg per capita

Despite the issues with the classification of ‘municipal’ waste, the data for this sector is of better quality than for other sectors. Hence this indicator is a useful tool to measure trends in the quantity of waste landfilled over time.

 Municipal Waste Landfilled, kg per capita

Council Directive 99/31/EC on the landfill of waste entered into force on 16.07.1999. The deadline for implementation of the legislation in the Member States was July 2001.

The objective of the Directive is to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment from the landfilling of waste, by introducing technical requirements for waste and landfills.

The Directive is intended to prevent or reduce the adverse effects of the landfill of waste on the environment, in particular on surface water, groundwater, soil, air and human health.

Due to the levels of methane generated by biodegradable waste decomposing under anaerobic conditions in landfill, the Directive further implemented targets to reduce the quantity of municipal waste landfilled in order to reduce the greenhouse gas impacts associated with waste management.

With 1995 as the reference year (100% by weight), biodegradable municipal waste to landfill must be reduced to:

• 75% in 2006 (2010)
• 50% in 2009 (2013)
• 35% in 2016 (2020)

(Note: years in brackets show the targets for Member States that have been granted a 4 year derogation due to relatively lower performance in the baseline year of 1995 i.e. > 80% landfill rate in 1995)

• See DG Environment web-link below for publications.
  
• EEA Report No. 7/2009: ‘Diverting Waste from Landfills’
  

DG Environment (Landfill of Waste)