Municipal waste in 2023 amounted to 334,911 tonnes, up by 6,501 tonnes, or 2.0 per cent over 2022 but it was lower per capita when considering the increase in tourist arrivals.
The NSO said the highest increases were recorded in biowaste 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).
Waste generation data showed 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). Those 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).
In 2023 the collection of separate waste amounted to 34.7 per cent of municipal waste generation, up from the 27.9 per cent that was registered in 2022.
Indicators for the municipal waste generation per capita based on average total population showed that each person generated 606 kilograms of waste in 2023, down by 2.0 per cent over the previous year, the NSO said. Moreover, when factoring in the net tourist equivalent population in addition to average total population, per capita municipal waste generation for 2023 amounted to 565 kilograms - 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.
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 landfilling were recorded for garden and park bio-waste (3,884 tonnes) and other waste (1,466 tonnes).
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.
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.