ENVIRONMENTAL WELL-BEING - Waste
The indicator Landfilled municipal waste per capita shows the total amount of municipal waste (mostly household waste) stored at landfills. Sustainable waste management is based on the principles of hierarchy: we should strive primarily to prevent waste generation, followed by reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and landfilling. Growth of the indicator, i.e. increase in the amount of landfilled municipal waste, has a negative impact on well-being.
Figure: Landfilled municipal waste per capita, Slovenia and the EU, 2000−2013 (kg/person)
Source of data: Eurostat.
In Slovenia, 109 kg of municipal waste per capita was landfilled in 2013, which is 29% less than a year earlier. In 2012 for the first time since the data started to be collected (in 1995), less waste per capita was landfilled in Slovenia than in the EU overall (Slovenia: 153 kg; EU: 157 kg). In 2013, the gap widened significantly (Slovenia: 109 kg; EU: 147 kg). In addition to the reduced amount of generated waste, in recent years the decline in landfilled waste in Slovenia has been the result of improvements in waste management in terms of increased recycling and composting.
Results of supplementary indicators show:
In 2013, 414 kg of municipal waste per capita was generated in Slovenia, which is less than the EU average (481 kg). The amount of municipal waste generated in Slovenia has been decreasing since 2009; since then it has decreased more in Slovenia than in the EU overall.
In 2013, 3.7 million tons of waste was generated in production and service activities in Slovenia, which is 1.5% more than a year earlier. The amount was growing before the onset of the economic crisis, but since 2008 it has mostly been decreasing.