Municipal Waste: 2024
- Generation of municipal waste during 2024 amounted to 353,525 tonnes, going up by 20,287 tonnes, or 6.1 per cent over 2023.
- When factoring in the net tourist daily population in addition to the mid-year resident population, the per capita municipal waste generation for 2024 amounted to 574 kilograms, increasing by 2.1 per cent over 2023.
- During 2024, the total amount of treated municipal waste increased by 9,635 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, over that recorded in 2023, amounting to 322,119 tonnes.
- In 2024, 79.2 per cent of treated municipal waste was landfilled, up from the share of 78.6 per cent recorded a year before.
- When compared to 2023, municipal waste that was recycled in 2024 increased by 1,723 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, to a total of 58,156 tonnes.
Municipal Waste: 2024
Municipal Waste: 2024
Municipal waste generation
Generation of municipal waste during 2024 amounted to 353,525 tonnes, going up by 20,287 tonnes, or 6.1 per cent over 2023. The highest increases by waste type, in absolute terms, were recorded in bio-waste from gardens and parks (5,910 tonnes), bio-waste from kitchens and canteens (5,826 tonnes) and other waste (4,082 tonnes). On the other hand, decreases were registered for mixed municipal waste (2,642 tonnes), metals (1,293 tonnes), and glass (123 tonnes) (Table 1).
Chart 1. Municipal waste generation
Waste generation data by waste type presents information about the state of the waste at the point of collection. The proportion of source segregated waste collection can be determined from this data (see methodological note 4). The available data shows that the collection of source segregated waste fractions in 2024 amounted to 36.3 per cent of the municipal waste generation, up from the 34.8 per cent that was registered a year before (Chart 2).
Chart 2. Municipal waste collection by type
Note: Collection of source segregated waste fractions refers to a collection system where a waste stream is segregated by type and nature to facilitate a specific treatment. Source segregated wastes include single material collections or multiple materials which are collected together for recycling such as in the case of the green/grey bag.
Waste generation data by waste collection type shows that in 2024 the main increases were registered in the ‘Other’ category (15,076 tonnes), followed by street cleaning (3,432 tonnes) and the organic waste collection (2,444 tonnes). These increases were offset by reductions recorded in the categories for the black bag from businesses and institutions (2,287 tonnes), civic amenity sites (384 tonnes), and the black bag from the door-to-door collection by local councils (356 tonnes) (Table 2).
Indicators for the municipal waste generation per capita based on the mid-year resident population show that each person generated 621 kilograms of waste in 2024, up by 3.1 per cent over the previous year. Moreover, when factoring in the net tourist daily population in addition to the mid-year resident population, the per capita municipal waste generation for 2024 amounted to 574 kilograms, increasing by 2.1 per cent over 2023 (Table 3).
Chart 3. Municipal waste generation per capita (including net tourist daily population) by waste type
Municipal waste treatment
The total amount of treated municipal waste in 2024 increased by 9,635 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, over that recorded in 2023, amounting to 322,119 tonnes. In 2024, 79.2 per cent of treated municipal waste was landfilled, up from the share of 78.6 per cent recorded a year before. In absolute terms, the landfilling of municipal waste increased by 9,510 tonnes (3.9 per cent), mainly on account of higher amounts of mixed municipal waste (16,381 tonnes), wood (8,764 tonnes) and garden and park bio-waste (6,514 tonnes). These were mainly offset by decreases in the rejects from the mechanical treatment of waste (24,371 tonnes) and bulky waste (764 tonnes) (Table 4).
Municipal waste that was recycled in 2024 increased by 1,723 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, to a total of 58,156 tonnes. The most recycled material in 2024 was paper and cardboard with a share of 60.0 per cent from the total recycled municipal waste. Increases in recycling were registered for kitchen and canteen bio-waste (25.0 per cent), paper and cardboard (24.5 per cent) and plastic (11.5 per cent). On the other hand, decreases were recorded for clothes and textiles (46.6 per cent), glass (36.0 per cent), metals (31.4 per cent), and waste electrical and electronic equipment (1.4 per cent) (Table 4).
In 2024, municipal waste that underwent treatment by energy recovery decreased by 17.0 per cent, reaching 7,530 tonnes. Furthermore, preparing for re-use accounted for 1,282 tonnes, decreasing by 1.6 per cent over 2023 (Table 4).
Chart 4. Municipal waste treatment by treatment category
Methodological Notes
1. Data for this news release is sourced from WasteServ Malta Ltd., the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and Circular Economy Malta. Data for 2024 should be considered as provisional.
2. Data presented in this news release is based on the methodology that is applied for the municipal waste data reporting which the NSO submits annually to Eurostat. This methodology follows the provisions as laid down in the document: ‘‘Guidance for the compilation and reporting of data on municipal waste according to Commission Implementing Decisions 2019/1004/EC and 2019/1885/EC, and the Joint Questionnaire of Eurostat and OECD’ version of 06/10/2023‘.
3. Revisions on 2023 data have been carried out following data updates in the National Waste Inventory that is sourced from ERA.
4. Source segregated waste collection is determined from the data that is presented in Table 1 and is considered to comprise the following waste types: Paper and cardboard, Plastics, Metals, Glass, Wood, Waste electrical and electronic equipment, Mixed packaging, Bio-waste – kitchen and canteen and Clothes and textiles.
5. Municipal waste generation which is expressed in kilograms per capita, is worked out by dividing the municipal waste generation (in kilograms) by the mid-year resident population. The mid-year resident population is calculated by averaging start-of-the-year and end-year usual resident population estimates. It should be noted that Eurostat uses population data as on 1 January to calculate the average population and so the per capita figures in this release are not directly comparable to those of Eurostat.
6. Municipal waste generation per capita figures have been revised to align population figures with those published by NSO in the Tourism Intensity Statistical Insight, released on the 14 April 2025.
7. Municipal waste generation per capita (including net tourist daily population) is a national indicator that has been included in this news release since all the waste that is generated by tourists forms part of municipal waste. It is calculated by the following formula:
The inbound tourist daily population is calculated by dividing the total nights spent in Malta by tourists by the number of nights in the year. The outbound tourist daily population is calculated by dividing the total nights spent by Maltese residents abroad by the number of nights in the year.
Effective population figures from 2010 to 2015 are presented in the table below. Figures for 2016 to 2023 can be accessed from here. Figures for 2024 can be accessed from here.
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-year resident population | 414,562 | 416,318 | 419,746 | 425,171 | 433,451 | 443,764 |
| Tourist daily population | 24,106 | 24,458 | 25,443 | 27,454 | 28,331 | 29,826 |
8. Table 4 presents data for the six final treatment categories under which municipal waste treatment in Malta can be classified. Data is inclusive of waste exports to overseas final treatment facilities occurring due to the limited waste treatment capacity in Malta.
9. The difference between municipal waste generation and municipal waste treatment occurs mainly as a result of moisture gains and losses in organic waste, variations in stocks of waste that are held in storage prior to the final treatment operation and waste that is exported for pre-treatment operations (consequently the final treatment operation is not specified).
10. Definitions:
● Municipal waste: Waste that is generated from households as well as waste that is similar in nature and composition to household waste that is generated by businesses and institutions. This waste is collected by or on behalf of municipal authorities and disposed of through the waste management system.
● Bring-in sites: Collection depots for clean source segregated recyclable materials. Four types of materials are collected: glass, metals, plastic and paper/cardboard.
● Civic amenity sites: Collection depots for the separate disposal of household bulky and recyclable waste. In 2024 there were six sites operated by WasteServ Malta Ltd., five in Malta and one in Gozo.
● Green/Grey bag collection: Door-to-door collection of mixed paper, metals and plastics from households. This service commenced in 2011. As of 2023 this collection takes place every Thursday.
● Glass collection: Door-to-door collection of glass from households. This service commenced in 2014. As of 2023 this collection takes place every first and third Fridays of the month.
● Black bag collection: Door-to-door collection of mixed waste primarily from households but also including waste from businesses and institutions. This bag should be used only for the disposal of residual waste which cannot be composted or recycled. As of 2023 this collection takes place every Tuesday and Saturday.
● Organic waste collection: Door-to-door collection of organic waste from households. This collection started as a pilot project covering a limited number of localities in 2015 and was extended nationally from the 31st October 2018 onwards. As of 2023 this collection takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
● Disposal – landfill: Disposal of waste into or onto land, including specially engineered landfill, covered by Disposal codes D1, D5 and D12.
● Disposal – incineration: Incineration without energy recovery refers to the thermal treatment of waste and is considered as a disposal operation classified under code D10.
● Recovery – material recycling: Any waste recovery operations by which disposed materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes, except for use as fuel. These recovery operations are classified under codes R2 to R9 and R11.
● Recovery – energy recovery: Incineration with energy recovery is considered as a recovery operation whenever both the conditions and energy efficiency thresholds which are provided in the ‘Guidelines on the energy efficiency formula for incineration facilities’ related to the Waste Framework Directive are met. This treatment operation is classified under code R1.
● Recovery – preparing for re-use: Operations that include checking, cleaning or repairing by which products or components of products that have become waste are prepared so that they can be re-used without any other pre-processing.
11. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Statistical concepts
Metadata
Classifications (Recovery and Disposal operations)
12. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
13. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
14. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.
- Generation of municipal waste during 2024 amounted to 353,525 tonnes, going up by 20,287 tonnes, or 6.1 per cent over 2023.
- When factoring in the net tourist daily population in addition to the mid-year resident population, the per capita municipal waste generation for 2024 amounted to 574 kilograms, increasing by 2.1 per cent over 2023.
- During 2024, the total amount of treated municipal waste increased by 9,635 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, over that recorded in 2023, amounting to 322,119 tonnes.
- In 2024, 79.2 per cent of treated municipal waste was landfilled, up from the share of 78.6 per cent recorded a year before.
- When compared to 2023, municipal waste that was recycled in 2024 increased by 1,723 tonnes, or 3.1 per cent, to a total of 58,156 tonnes.
