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Disposal of household waste in the Netherlands, 1985-2002

After a few years with only minor shifts in the methods used for the disposal of household waste, 2002 saw a slight increase in recovery and a continued fall in landfill.

Return to slight increase in recovery as a result of separation plants


There was a sharper fall in landfill for household waste in the second half of the 1990s and the use of incineration and recovery increased. The years that followed were characterised by stabilisation. In 2002, there was a slight increase in recovery again as a result of the separation of non-separated waste in separation plants completed in 2002 (with the separated waste being recovered). This is one reason for the slight fall in the proportion of waste going to landfill.

Policy objective


The aim of the policy is to achieve a recovery level of at least 60% and to bring landfill for household waste to an end. In 2002, approximately 46.7% of waste was reused, 11.5% was incinerated and 8% was sent to landfill.

Technical note


The processing methods used for household waste are the following: reuse, composting, incineration and landfill. A proportion of the non-separated waste is separated at a later stage in separation plants. Some of this waste is recovered following processing at a separation plant and the rest is incinerated or sent to landfill. The graph includes reuse and composting under the single heading "recovery". The waste separated in separation plants has been assigned to "recovery", "incineration" and "landfill". In 2002, a very small proportion of household waste was discharged after treatment in a separation plant (8 million kilos). This has not been included in the graph.

The figures from Statistics Netherlands about the processing of household waste (CBS, 2003) differ from the data presented here. In the Statistics Netherlands statistics, the rebuilding waste collected by municipal authorities is included in household waste. In the graph, only some of the rebuilding waste collected by municipal authorities is considered to be household waste; it is assumed that the remainder is really business waste (mainly from building contractors).

References


Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium


Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium


  • More information about the processing of household waste can be found on Statline (Statistics Netherlands).
This page was last changed on November 18, 2005  (version 01).