By the end of 2019, municipal waste generation reached 349,576 tonnes; up by 23,825 tonnes or 7.3% over 2018, statistics by the National Statistics Office show.

Main increases originated from kitchen and canteen bio-waste amounting to 20,165 tonnes, followed by mixed packaging at 9,402 tonnes and bulky waste at 9,175 tonnes. On the other hand, the generation of mixed municipal waste went down by 21,372 tonnes.

Data comprising the origins of municipal waste generation indicates that the organic waste collection increased by 3.7 times or 19,975 tonnes over the amount collected in 2018. "This development resulted since 2019 was the first full calendar year during which the organic waste collection took place following the nationwide rollout at the end of October 2018. As a direct consequence, the black bag collection of waste that falls within the remit of local councils dropped by 25,466 tonnes."

Another notable increase of 9,031 tonnes or 36.3% was also recorded in the grey/green bag and glass collection, the NSO said.

During 2019, the total amount of municipal waste treatment increased by 52,791 tonnes or 17.6% over 2018; reaching a total of 352,018 tonnes. The share of landfilling from the total municipal waste treated stood at 91.1%; up from the 89.4% level recorded a year before.

"The combined amount of digestate and rejects that originated as secondary waste from pre-treatment operations amounted to 42.9% of all landfilled municipal waste in 2019". When compared to 2018, the share of municipal waste recycling dropped by 1.7 percentage points to 8.9% of the total municipal waste treatment, the NSO explained. Almost two thirds (62.8%) of municipal waste recycled in 2019 was made up of paper and cardboard, followed by glass and plastic at 11% and 9% respectively.