Recycling is of crucial importance for safeguarding the value retention of materials. It ensures that materials, after processing, can be reused. However, not all waste is recycled yet, and the degree to which it is recycled varies from country to country.
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The diagrams below provide an overview of the extent to which materials in the floriculture industry’s main markets are recycled. Here, the recycling percentage of packaging waste for each country is displayed individually. Please note that a distinction is made between plastic packaging waste and paper packaging waste.
Insight can be gained into the probability that packaging will or will not be recycled by taking the recycling percentages for each country individually into consideration. The smaller the recycling percentage, the more likely it is that the packaging will be incinerated or dumped. Incineration is less desirable because the value of the material is lost as it cannot be reused. Dumping waste releases harmful substances into the air and the soil.
As shown in the first diagram, 82% of paper packaging waste is recycled EU-wide on average. In Europe, if paper packaging is disposed of in the correct waste bin, chances are high that it will be recycled. With plastic packaging waste, however, these are much lower. Less than half of plastic packaging waste is recycled in Europe. This diagram shows that the Netherlands and Sweden are the only countries in Europe that recycle more than 50% of their plastic packaging waste.
Source: Eurostat, recycling rates for packaging waste, date requested: 3 May 2022, TEN00063
Is your market not on the list, or would you like to see the recycling percentages of other European countries? Click on the PDFs at the bottom of the page, or follow this link to the Eurostat website. The ‘Waste categories’ menu on the right-hand side of the page allows you to distinguish not only between various types of packaging waste such as paper and plastic, but also wood, metal or glass.
We also studied the recycling percentages of packaging waste in the UK and the United States. Recycling percentages in the UK generally correspond to those in the EU. Chances are reasonable that paper packaging waste here will be recycled, but these chances are considerably slighter for plastic packaging waste. In the USA, paper packaging waste is likely to be recycled.
However, only 14% of plastic packaging waste is recycled. Here, a lot of waste is still dumped in landfills. This comprises 15% of paper packaging waste and 69% of plastic packaging waste. The percentages of paper and plastic waste relegated to landfills in the UK and the European Union are not known.
Source: Eurostat, recycling rates for packaging waste, date requested: 3 May 2022 TEN00063
Source: "Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Facts and Figures (2020)." Author: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.