Online shopping and coffee-to-go: In 2021 there was significantly more packaging waste in the European Union than in previous years. 188.7 kilograms of packaging waste per inhabitant was generated that year, according to the EU statistics authority Eurostat in Luxembourg. That is 10.8 kilograms more than in the previous year. It is also the strongest increase in ten years and almost 32 kilograms more than in 2011. In the second Corona year 2021, there were temporary lockdowns in some countries.
The numbers vary widely within the EU – while in Croatia there was around 74 kilograms of packaging waste per capita, in Ireland it was around 246 kilograms. According to the data, in Germany it was around 237 kilograms.
A total of 84 million tons of packaging waste was generated in the EU in 2021. According to the information, the largest part (40 percent) was cardboard and paper, followed by plastic (19 percent), glass (18.5 percent), wood (17 percent) and metal (5 percent).
According to the information, the most packaging waste was recycled in Germany – around 161 kilograms per capita. The lowest amounts were recorded in Croatia at around 38 kilograms.
