Municipal Waste: 2023
- In 2023, the generation of municipal waste amounted to 334,911 tonnes, increasing by 6,501 tonnes, or 2.0 per cent over 2022.
- When taking into account the net tourist equivalent population, in addition to total population, the municipal waste generation per capita for 2023 amounted to 565 kilograms per person, declining by 2.8 per cent over 2022.
- During 2023, the total amount of treated municipal waste decreased by 4,908 tonnes or 1.5 per cent over that recorded in 2022, amounting to 313,873 tonnes.
- The share that went to landfilling from the total treated municipal waste stood at 78.7 per cent, going down from 85.8 per cent that was recorded a year before.
- When compared to 2022, municipal waste that was recycled in 2023 increased by 16,130 tonnes or 40.1 per cent to a total of 56,402 tonnes.
Municipal Waste: 2023
Municipal Waste: 2023
Municipal waste generation
The generation of municipal waste in 2023 amounted to 334,911 tonnes, up by 6,501 tonnes, or 2.0 per cent over 2022. When viewed by waste type, in absolute terms, the highest increases were recorded in bio-waste from kitchens and canteens (7,881 tonnes), glass (5,526 tonnes), and paper and cardboard (4,947 tonnes). On the other hand, decreases were registered for mixed municipal waste (15,781 tonnes), bulky waste (8,248 tonnes) and mixed packaging (4,779 tonnes) (Table 1).
Chart 1. Municipal waste generation per capita (including net tourist equivalent population) by waste type
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Waste generation data by waste collection type shows that in 2023 the main increases were registered in the ‘Other’ category (18,197 tonnes), followed by the black bag from businesses and institutions (12,474 tonnes) and the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (9,115 tonnes). These increases were offset by reductions recorded in the door-to-door collection of the black bag by local councils (28,255 tonnes), the bulky waste collection from households, businesses and institutions (8,248 tonnes) and the green/grey bag collection (5,084 tonnes) (Table 2).
In 2023 the collection of separate waste fractions amounted to 34.7 per cent of the municipal waste generation, up from the 27.9 per cent that was registered in 2022 (Chart 2).
Chart 2. Municipal waste collection by type
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Note: Collection of separate waste fractions refers to a collection system where a waste stream is segregated by type and nature to facilitate a specific treatment. Separately collected wastes include single materials collections or multiple materials which are collected together for recycling such as in the case of the green/grey bag.
Indicators for the municipal waste generation per capita based on average total population show that each person generated 606 kilograms of waste in 2023, down by 2.0 per cent over the previous year. Moreover, when factoring in the net tourist equivalent population in addition to average total population, one can see that the per capita municipal waste generation for 2023 amounted to 565 kilograms. This figure shows a decrease of 2.8 per cent over 2022 mainly because the sum of total population and net inbound tourism nights increased at a higher rate than municipal waste generation in 2023 (Table 3).
Municipal waste treatment
During 2023, the total amount of treated municipal waste decreased by 4,908 tonnes, or 1.5 per cent over that recorded in 2022, amounting to 313,873 tonnes. From the total treated municipal waste in 2023, 78.7 per cent was landfilled, down from the share of 85.8 per cent recorded a year before. In absolute terms, the landfilling of municipal waste declined by 26,298 tonnes (9.6 per cent), mainly on account of lower amounts of rejects from the mechanical treatment of waste (19,262 tonnes), bulky waste (8,663 tonnes) and mixed municipal waste (2,864 tonnes). In contrast, the main increases in the landfilling were recorded for garden and park bio-waste (3,884 tonnes) and other waste (1,466 tonnes) (Table 4).
Municipal waste that was recycled in 2023 increased by 16,130 tonnes, or 40.1 per cent, to a total of 56,402 tonnes. Paper and cardboard was the most recycled material in 2023 with a share of 49.7 per cent from the total recycled municipal waste. Increases in recycling were registered for metals (165.1 per cent), plastic (146.2 per cent), glass (66.0 per cent), kitchen and canteen bio-waste (16.7 per cent) and paper and cardboard (16.2 per cent). Conversely, the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment decreased by 19.5 per cent (Table 4).
In 2023, municipal waste that underwent treatment by energy recovery increased by 121.4 per cent, reaching 9,074 tonnes. In addition, 1,303 tonnes underwent preparing for re-use, an increase of 26.3 per cent over 2022 (Table 4).
Chart 3. Municipal waste treatment by treatment category
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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 2023 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 21/05/2024‘.
3. Revisions on 2022 data have been carried out following data updates in the National Waste Inventory that is sourced from ERA.
4. Municipal waste generation and treatment which is expressed in kilograms per capita, is worked out by means of data on the average population. The average population during a calendar year is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the population on 31 December of two consecutive years. 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.
5. Municipal waste generation per capita figures have been revised as a result of the intercensal benchmark revisions of population and migration statistics for the time-series 2012 to 2021 together with data for the 2022 reference year. These were published by the NSO on 26 January 2024.
6. Municipal waste generation per capita (including net tourist equivalent 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 equivalent population is calculated by dividing the total nights spent in Malta by tourists by the number of nights in the year. The outbound tourist equivalent population is calculated by dividing the total nights spent by Maltese residents abroad by the number of nights in the year.
7. Table 4 presents data for the five final treatment categories under which municipal waste that was treated from 2019 to 2023 can be classified. Data is inclusive of waste exports to overseas final treatment facilities occurring due to the limited waste treatment capacity in Malta.
8. 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).
9. 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 2023 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.
10. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Statistical concepts
Metadata
Classifications (Recovery and Disposal operations)
11. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
12. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
13. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.
- In 2023, the generation of municipal waste amounted to 334,911 tonnes, increasing by 6,501 tonnes, or 2.0 per cent over 2022.
- When taking into account the net tourist equivalent population, in addition to total population, the municipal waste generation per capita for 2023 amounted to 565 kilograms per person, declining by 2.8 per cent over 2022.
- During 2023, the total amount of treated municipal waste decreased by 4,908 tonnes or 1.5 per cent over that recorded in 2022, amounting to 313,873 tonnes.
- The share that went to landfilling from the total treated municipal waste stood at 78.7 per cent, going down from 85.8 per cent that was recorded a year before.
- When compared to 2022, municipal waste that was recycled in 2023 increased by 16,130 tonnes or 40.1 per cent to a total of 56,402 tonnes.
