MONET 2030: Total municipal waste generation

SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Goal description

«[… ] Sustainable consumption and production aims at “doing more and better with less,” increasing net welfare gains from economic activities by reducing resource use, degradation and pollution along the whole lifecycle, while increasing quality of life.[…] »

Excerpt from Swiss target 12.5: The environmental impact of waste is limited. […]

Significance of the indicator
The indicator shows the total quantity of municipal waste produced, including separately collected waste. Preventing or reducing the generation of waste decreases the consumption of resources as well as the burden on the environment when waste is processed. To move in the direction of sustainable development, the generation of waste must decline.

International comparability
The indicator can be compared with the Eurostat indicator “Municipal waste generated”.

Synthesis

This indicator shows the total of municipal waste generated. This includes separately collected waste (paper and cardboard, compostable waste, glass containers, aluminium, beverage containers made of PET, tinplate containers, batteries and electrical and electronic appliances (since 2001), destined for re-use or recycling and municipal waste that is incinerated or put in landfill (since 2004 excl. imported waste).

Data on separately collected waste come from private recycling companies and are published by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Some of the data come from surveys, others are sample-based extrapolations. In certain cases they also include production waste (particularly for glass). Data on incinerated municipal waste are recorded when waste arrives at the household waste incinerator plants.

Several legal bases govern the waste cycle: its processing (Ordinance on waste prevention and elimination), the funding of its disposal (Environmental Protection Act - EPA), the return, taking back and disposal of electrical and electronic appliances (Ordinance on the Return, Taking Back and Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ORDE), as well as the targeted recycling rate for beverage containers (Beverage Container Ordinance - BCO) for example.

Eurostat – Waste statistics

FOEN – Topic waste

Swiss target 12.5: The environmental impact of waste is limited. The economic and technical potential of recycling raw materials is maximised.

International target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse