Composition of non-separated household waste in the Netherlands, 1940-2000
| 1940 | 1958 | 1971 | 1980 | 1990 | 1995 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001* | |
| million kg | |||||||||
| Total quantity2) | . | . | 3 110 | 4 090 | 4 600 | 3 430 | 3 815 | 3 935 | 3 912 |
| percentage weight | |||||||||
| Organic household waste, bread, animal waste and non-defined non-separated waste | 64 | 56 | 52 | 53 | 52 | 38 | 36 | 32 | 38 |
| Paper and cardboard | 22 | 20 | 26 | 21 | 25 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 30 |
| Synthetic materials | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 |
| Glass | 1 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3.5 | 5 | 3.5 |
| Iron | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Non-ferrous metals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Textiles | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3.5 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Hazardous household waste | 0 | 0 | . | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Other 1) | 9 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6.5 | 11 | 7.5 |
| Source: SVA (1980); City of Rotterdam; Statistics Netherlands; RIVM | RIVM/ EDC/Oct02 | ||||||||
| 1) Mainly wood, ceramics, carpet, leather and rubber. Until the sixties, a relatively large proportion of coal ash. 2) The non-separated waste comprises waste that is collected in bags or containers for non-organic waste and that is not separated. | |||||||||
Developments in the composition of non-separated household waste
Following the introduction of bottle banks, the proportion of glass in non-separated household waste fell from 12% in 1980 to between 4 and 5% in the 1990s. The quantity of non-separated household waste fell sharply between 1990 and 1995, mainly as a result of the separate collection of organic household waste. This had a major effect on the composition of non-separated household waste. Since 1995, the separate collection of organic household waste has stabilised and the amount of non-separated household waste has increased steadily. In 2001, the amount did not increase for the first time since 1995.
