The generation of municipal waste in 2023 amounted to 334,911 tonnes, up by 6,501 tonnes, or 2% over 2022, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.
"When viewed by waste type, in absolute terms, the highest increases were recorded in bio-waste from kitchens and canteens (7,881 tonnes), glass (5,526 tonnes), and paper and cardboard (4,947 tonnes). On the other hand, decreases were registered for mixed municipal waste (15,781 tonnes), bulky waste (8,248 tonnes) and mixed packaging (4,779 tonnes)."
Waste generation data by waste collection type shows that in 2023 the main increases were registered in the 'Other' category (18,197 tonnes), followed by the black bag from businesses and institutions (12,474 tonnes) and the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (9,115 tonnes). These increases were offset by reductions recorded in the door-to-door collection of the black bag by local councils (28,255 tonnes), the bulky waste collection from households, businesses and institutions (8,248 tonnes) and the green/grey bag collection (5,084 tonnes).
In 2023 the collection of separate waste fractions amounted to 34.7% of the municipal waste generation, up from the 27.9% that was registered in 2022.
The NSO said that indicators for the municipal waste generation per capita based on average total population show that each person generated 606 kilograms of waste in 2023, down by 2% over the previous year. "Moreover, when factoring in the net tourist equivalent population in addition to average total population, one can see that the per capita municipal waste generation for 2023 amounted to 565 kilograms. This figure shows a decrease of 2.8% over 2022 mainly because the sum of total population and net inbound tourism nights increased at a higher rate than municipal waste generation in 2023."
Municipal waste treatment
During 2023, the total amount of treated municipal waste decreased by 4,908 tonnes, or 1.5% over that recorded in 2022, amounting to 313,873 tonnes. From the total treated municipal waste in 2023, 78.7% was landfilled, down from the share of 85.8% recorded a year before.
"In absolute terms, the landfilling of municipal waste declined by 26,298 tonnes (9.6%), mainly on account of lower amounts of rejects from the mechanical treatment of waste (19,262 tonnes), bulky waste (8,663 tonnes) and mixed municipal waste (2,864 tonnes). In contrast, the main increases in the landfilling were recorded for garden and park bio-waste (3,884 tonnes) and other waste (1,466 tonnes)."
"Municipal waste that was recycled in 2023 increased by 16,130 tonnes, or 40.1%, to a total of 56,402 tonnes. Paper and cardboard was the most recycled material in 2023 with a share of 49.7% from the total recycled municipal waste. Increases in recycling were registered for metals (165.1%), plastic (146.2%), glass (66%), kitchen and canteen bio-waste (16.7%) and paper and cardboard (16.2%). Conversely, the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment decreased by 19.5%," the NSO said.
In 2023, municipal waste that underwent treatment by energy recovery increased by 121.4%, reaching 9,074 tonnes, it said. "In addition, 1,303 tonnes underwent preparing for re-use, an increase of 26.3% over 2022."