Waste statistics
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics, the Commission presents its report on the implementation of the Regulation. It is required to do so every three years and the first report was published in 2008. This report summarises progress made since the first data delivery in 2006. It covers the 27 EU Member States and considers the results of the latest data delivery in June 2010. It also describes the transition from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2, and outlines the changes and expected improvements that will result from the revision of the Waste Statistics Regulation.
The report states that significant progress has been achieved with regard to the compilation of waste statistics since the first reporting in 2006. The punctuality and completeness of data delivery by Member States as well as the timeliness of data publication have steadily improved. Waste statistics have reached a fairly high degree of comparability across countries and considerable progress is being made towards full data coverage. Overall, the data are of appropriate quality for most countries. The harmonisation of data is furthered by a set of methodological guidance documents that are available from the website of the Environmental Data Centre on Waste. Errors and methodological deficits are identified by the quality control system.
With the data delivery for 2008, data on waste generation and treatment are now available for the period from 2004 to 2008. With the extension of the time series the data become increasingly useful, e.g. for building indicators and for use in the field of Environmental Accounts.
At the same time, it has to be mentioned that methodological changes in individual countries may still have a significant impact on the time series, at national level but also at the level of the EU-27 aggregate. Developments over time should thus still be interpreted with caution and after careful analysis of the underlying data. Also, the effect of new concepts introduced by the revised Waste Framework Directive, i.e. end-of-waste criteria, on waste statistics has to be observed.
Indicators on hazardous waste generation and on the generation of non-mineral waste have been developed and are being integrated into the set of Sustainable Development Indicators and the indicators for monitoring the Europe 2020 strategy. The development of an indicator for recycling is, however, still ongoing.
A considerable improvement with regard to the usability and interpretability of waste statistics is expected from the revision of the Regulation that will apply as of reference year 2010. The aims of the revision were to: (i) increase the usability of waste statistics; (ii) simplify the provisions of the Regulation; (iii) align the Regulation with other reporting obligations on waste.
The most important change is the harmonisation of the breakdown by waste categories in section 2 of Annexes I and II to the Regulation. The different breakdowns hampered data validation as well as the interpretation and communication of results. In future, waste generation and waste treatment will be reported according to the same 51 waste categories. Although this will lead to a nominal increase of the data to be reported the new provision is not expected to lead to an extra burden.
In addition, some waste categories have been reorganised or newly introduced in order to increase the usability of data, e.g. for the monitoring of waste policies. This includes: (i) separate waste categories for mineral waste from construction and demolition, for soils and for dredging spoil; (ii) separate waste categories for liquid and mineral wastes from waste treatment (secondary wastes); (iii) reorganisation of the categories animal and vegetal waste and metal wastes; (iv) aggregation of different chemical wastes in one category. Furthermore, the waste treatment categories were reorganised in order to bring the Regulation into line with the definitions and requirements of the revised Waste Framework Directive, and to integrate data on the number and capacity of landfills that are so far collected under Directive 1999/31/EC on landfills.