Belgium is the EU’s top packaging recycler

Belgium is the top packaging recycler among all 27 EU member states, according to figures from 2011 released by Eurostat, reports Recycling International. Belgium tops the table with a rate of 80.2%, followed by the Netherlands and Germany on, respectively, 71.9% and 71.8%. At the bottom of the table were Poland and Malta with recycling rates of, in turn, 41.2% and 42.3%. The average packaging recycling rate in the EU increased from 63.3% in 2010 to 63.6% in 2011, the Eurostat report confirms. The UK dropped from 14th to 17th place in the EU-27 packaging recycling table with a below-average rate of 60.8% - only just above the 2010 figure of 60.7%. The UK was also in 17th place in terms of packaging recovery rates with 67.1% for 2011 as compared to 67.3% for 2010. Germany was the recovery rate leader with 97.4% of its packaging waste recovered or incinerated, closely followed by Belgium on 96.9% and the Netherlands on 95.2%. The EU recovery average was 77.3%.

The full table is available on the Eurostat website.