How much do we recycle?
Households and companies produce mountains of waste. Waste production per inhabitant was 2.5 thousand kg in 2016. This waste includes all waste materials such as food waste, packaging, iron, paper, plastics, glass, chemical waste and construction waste. Part of that waste is incinerated, for energy generation, part is recycled, part is landfilled and part is exported. There has been hardly any development in the reuse of materials in recent years. Landfilling has decreased in recent years while incineration is on the rise.
If materials are reused in the production of goods, there is no need to extract or import scarce raw materials. This reduces pressure on the environment. The aim of a ‘circular economy’ is to be more economical with raw materials, limit waste production and reuse waste.
| Year | Incineration | Landfill and other | Recycling and reuse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2010 | 101 | 75.2 | 93.5 |
| 2012 | 114.1 | 74.1 | 97 |
| 2014 | 123.4 | 77.9 | 100 |
| 2016 | 128.2 | 63.6 | 100.2 |
Construction sector large waste processor
The construction industry is a major producer of waste. Nearly a quarter of all the materials generated by the construction sector consisted of waste. Waste made up around 10 percent of total output in the metal and food industries; in the agricultural sector, the figure is 8 percent.
Of all sectors, the construction sector also accounted for the largest share of recycled materials. Almost 38 percent of all the materials used in the construction sector were recycled materials. These were mainly mineral waste such as rubble, e.g. for road construction. On average, nearly 15 percent of the materials used in the production process in all sectors were recycled materials. The food industry uses many recycled resources, especially in the production of oils, fats and waxes as well as animal feed.
| Bedrijfstak | Use of recycled materials |
|---|---|
| Water and waste management |
96 |
| Construction | 38 |
| Timber and paper | 29 |
| Plastics | 19 |
| Machinery | 13 |
| Basic metals | 12 |
| Building materials | 11 |
| Agricultural products | 10 |
| Food | 7 |
| Electricity companies | 7 |
| Textiles | 5 |
| Chemical products | 2 |
| Metal products | 1 |
| Mining and quarrying | 0 |
| Petroleum | 0 |
| Electronics | 0 |
| Electrical equipment | 0 |
| Transport equipment | 0 |
| Repairs and installation |
0 |
| Services | 0 |
Recycling champion
A waste mountain of 2.5 thousand kg per inhabitant is also very high for Europe, where the average in the 28 countries of the European Union is nearly 1.8 thousand kg per inhabitant.
The relatively high waste production is related to the fact that the Netherlands produces large quantities of goods for export, which causes waste generation in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands produces a lot of waste but is also one of the European countries where much waste is recycled. At 1.7 thousand kg of recycled waste per capita in 2016, the Netherlands ranks 3rd in the European Union (EU-28) after Luxembourg and Belgium.
The large amount of recycled waste per inhabitant shows how circular the Dutch economy is. Another indicator is the use of recycled materials in the production process. At 29 percent, the Netherlands’ use of recycled materials is the highest of the EU-28. The large-scale reuse of waste in the construction sector is an especially important contributor to this.
| Land | Share of recycling (% of total material use) |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | 29.0 |
| France | 19.5 |
| Belgium | 18.9 |
| United Kingdom | 17.2 |
| Italy | 17.1 |
| Estonia | 11.8 |
| European Union | 11.7 |
| Germany | 11.4 |
| Austria | 10.6 |
| Poland | 10.2 |
| Slovenia | 8.5 |
| Denmark | 8.2 |
| Spain | 8.2 |
| Czech Republic | 7.6 |
| Sweden | 7.1 |
| Luxembourg | 6.5 |
| Hungary | 6.4 |
| Finland | 5.3 |
| Malta | 5.2 |
| Slovakia | 4.9 |
| Lithuania | 4.5 |
| Croatia | 4.4 |
| Bulgaria | 4.3 |
| Latvia | 3.9 |
| Cyprus | 2.3 |
| Portugal | 2.1 |
| Ireland | 1.7 |
| Romania | 1.5 |
| Greece | 1.3 |
Sources
News release – Smaller material footprint, more recycling than the EU average
The questions
- How does CBS calculate the figures?
- How do we use our land?
- How fast is the population growing?
- How are the various animal species doing?
- What are our top concerns?
- Where do the emigrants go?
- Who use social media the most?
- How isolated do we feel?
- What are our favourite wedding dates? What about partnership registrations?
- How many under-18s are receiving youth assistance?
- What about cyber crime?
- What are the most popular majors?
- What are the major religions?
- How many overnight stays?
- How many people shop online? And the items they buy...
- Who are eligible to vote?
- What are young people doing online?
- How many adults smoke or have smoked?
- Where were people in the Caribbean Netherlands originally born?
- Where do Caribbean Dutch children live?
- How much internet usage in the Caribbean Netherlands?
- How many people (never) work from home?
- How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
- Has our purchasing power gone up or down?
- Which jobs have the highest levels of mental fatigue?
- How many employees are members of a trade union?
- How many passengers flying into and out of the Netherlands?
- How much nitrogen is emitted at livestock farms?
- How many dwellings in the Netherlands?
- How much is our average mileage in electric cars?
- What do we import from China?
- Which prices are up, which are down?
- What is our production of frozen fries?
- How many enterprises in the Netherlands?
- How much energy do we get from biomass?
- How much do we recycle?
- Which flower bulbs are most common?
- What is the impact of coronavirus?