A report has found Turkey is Europe’s third largest producer of household and commercial waste, but the worst in recycling. It sends more than double to landfill sites compared to Spain – the next worst offender.
Research by Expert Market revealed that Turkey has the worst waste management practices in Europe, chucking away a mammoth 32.3 million tonnes of household and commercial waste straight to landfill. It equates to a volume of 58.5 million m3 in waste – enough to fill the Rome’s Colosseum over 44 times.
In contrast, Germany generates the highest amount of waste of any country in Europe (over 106 mn m³), but is among one of the best in terms of what it transfers to incinerators. Of 29 European nations, Germans rank 23rd smallest based on the actual volume of waste it sends to landfill – just 169K m3 in fact, which is barely enough to fill the Colosseum once. The data illustrates the lengths the German authorities and public have gone to adopt innovative and effective recycling practices.
Spain is Europe’s second worst pollutant, sending 23 mn m3 of rubbish to landfill – over half of its total volume of 40 mn m3 household and commercial waste. That’s the equivalent of filling the Colosseum 17.5 times. The French and Italians are Europe’s third and fourth worst most wasteful nations, with 18 mn m³ and 16 mn m³ volume of landfilled garbage.
Britain is ranked fourth largest producer of waste in Europe and the fifth worst for landfill. Its volume of 14.6 mn m3 would fill the Colosseum over 11 times. Expert Market also notes that over 20% of household rubbish in the UK is chucked straight to landfill, which suggests that Britons have “a long way to go in boosting recycling efforts”.
Joining Germany in efficient waste management solutions are Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Belgium. It’s Sweden however that tops the European waste list, having the smallest volume of landfill – just 61K m3.
