What do we see?
In the period between 2015 and 2019, there was an increase in all types of outdoor waste: the amount of fly-tipping grew from 22.6kt to 29.5kt, waste collected by road sweepers increased from 20.4kt to 22.6kt and the amount of waste in public rubbish bins rose from 7kt to 11.5kt. This last category also saw the largest relative growth. The total amount of outdoor waste grew from 50kt to 63.6kt. Although there is not much recent information available regarding outdoor waste, this indicator gives us an idea about current waste management in cities.
What’s the aim?
In a circular economy, we aim to reduce the amount of discarded waste and recycle as much as possible. Street waste and fly-tipping are types of waste that cannot be sorted and collected for recycling, which leads to more waste being incinerated or landfilled. As the amount of all types of outdoor waste is increasing, we need to work harder to increase the amount of material that can be recovered and to promote the more circular models. In addition, this increase also indicates a negative trend in the involvement of citizens in better waste management. Therefore, we also need to put extra effort into increasing public awareness and knowledge of the environmental effects.
What does this indicator measure?
This indicator gives the evolution of outdoor waste between 2015 and 2019. The data was provided by OVAM.
