REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on statistics compiled pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics and their quality
Date: 2016-11-03
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, data collection, environmental statistics, statistical method, waste, waste management

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.11.2016  COM(2016) 701 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on statistics compiled pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics and their quality  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on statistics compiled pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 on waste statistics and 
their quality 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

1.3. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 2 

Regulation on waste statistics ...................................................................................... 2 

Different national approaches and quality ................................................................... 2 

Quality control ............................................................................................................. 2 

Punctuality and timeliness ........................................................................................... 3 

Completeness ............................................................................................................... 3 

Data accuracy ............................................................................................................... 4 

Data coverage ............................................................................................................... 4 

Breakdown by economic sectors .................................................................................. 5 

4.3.  Waste classification ...................................................................................................... 5 

4.4  

Differences between waste generation and waste treatment ........................................ 5 

5. 

5.1. 

5.2. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

Comparability ............................................................................................................... 6 

Comparability over time .............................................................................................. 6 

Comparability across countries .................................................................................... 6 

Burden on businesses ................................................................................................... 6 

Indicator development .................................................................................................. 7 

Achievements and outlook ........................................................................................... 7 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Regulation on waste statistics 

The aim of Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
25  November  2002  on waste  statistics1  (hereafter  the  Regulation)  is  to  produce  statistics  on 
waste  falling  under  the  scope  of  Directive  2008/98/EC  on  waste  (the  Waste  Framework 
Directive)2. Article 8(1) of the Regulation requires the Commission to submit a report on the 
implementation of the Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council every 3 years 
(following the first report, which was to be submitted within 5 years of the entry into force of 
the Regulation). The first report was published in 2008,3 the second in 20114 and the third in 
2014.5  

1.2. 

Different national approaches and quality 

The Regulation lays down the data to be submitted and the quality required, while the choice 
of the specific method of drawing up waste statistics is left to the Member States. This enables 
them  to  keep  their  data  collection  systems  and  minimise  the  burden  of  complying  with  the 
Regulation. 

The Regulation (Annex I, section 7) requires Member States to submit a quality report along 
with the data. In these reports, Member States refer to quality elements commonly used in the 
European  Statistical  System6  and  set out  in  Commission  Regulation  (EC)  No  1445/2005  on 
the quality of waste statistics.7 

1.3. 

Quality control 

Since the first data delivery in 2006, the Commission (Eurostat) has set up an efficient two-
step quality control system.  

In  a  first  step  after  the  data  delivery  a  quick  evaluation  of  the  data  and  quality  reports  is 
performed within two months of the reporting deadline. In this step, data validation concerns 
mainly  the  internal  coherence  of  new  data  and  developments  over  time.  The  analysis  is 
performed at a highly aggregated level and aims to detect major breaks in series and to check 
whether  the  data  is  fit  for  publication.  An  evaluation  report  is  sent  to  the  Member  States, 
which may request an explanation and/or a revision of the data, depending on the observations 
made. 

The second step is an in-depth validation. It analyses the data at a more detailed level (e.g. by 
economic  sector  and  by  waste  category)  and  compares  patterns  and  developments  across 
countries. The validation checks include: 

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intra-country  comparisons  of  waste  generation  for  each  economic  activity  with 
values from previous years; 

cross-country comparisons of the data for each economic activity; 

OJ L 332, 9.12.2002, p. 1. 
OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3. 
COM (2008) 355 final, 13.6.2008. 
COM (2011) 131 final, 17.3.2011. 
COM (2014) 79 final, 14.2.2014. 
Eurostat website on Quality: 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=2273.1 2273_47140765&_dad=portal&_schema=
PORTAL. 
OJ L 229, 6.9.2005, p. 6. 

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 

an  intra-country  comparison  of  waste  generated  and  waste  treated  for  each  waste 
category; 

cross-checks  with  waste  data  from  other  reporting  obligations,  such  as  compliance 
monitoring pursuant to other waste-related legislation. 

The  results  are  checked  against  the  countries’  quality  reports,  the  feedback  from  the  first 
evaluation  step  and  any  other  available  documents  (e.g.  reporting  documentation  from 
previous years) and then discussed with Member States. 

In addition to these two steps the Commission (Eurostat) has proposed a validation step which 
the  countries  should  perform  before  delivering  the  data  and  which  consists  of  standard 
validation  rules.  A  common  set  of  standard  validation  rules  for  waste  statistics  was  agreed 
with  the  Member  States  in  2014.  Eleven  Member  States  already  used  these  rules  before 
submitting  data  for  the  reference  year8  2012.  This  is  an  important  step  towards  further 
improving the efficiency of the validation process. 

The Commission (Eurostat) is further enhancing the methodological guidance documents that 
are  available  on  Eurostat's  website  and  continuing  to  improve  and  refine  the  data  quality 
control system. 

2. 

PUNCTUALITY AND TIMELINESS 

Data and quality reports are to be submitted biennially to the Commission (Eurostat) within 
18 months of the end of the reference year9.  

Compliance  with  the reporting  deadline  for the  reference  year  2012 is  similar  to  that  of  the 
2010  reference  year.  In  total,  21  Member  States  and  EEA/EFTA  countries  delivered  their 
2012 data sets and quality reports on time or within 1 month of the deadline. Both data and 
quality reports arrived more than 3 months after the deadline for 5 Member States (Denmark, 
Ireland, Italy, Lithuania and Romania) and 1 EEA/EFTA country (Iceland). Parts of data sets 
or  quality  reports  arrived  more  than  3  months  after  the  reporting  deadline  for  3  countries 
(Finland, Latvia and the United Kingdom).  

The  Commission  (Eurostat)  is  taking  steps  to  urge  countries  to  review  their  statistical 
production processes and deliver good quality data within the set deadlines. 

Publication 

The  data  on  waste  generation  and  waste  treatment  were  published  in  the  Eurostat 
dissemination database on 1 October 2014. 

3. 

COMPLETENESS 

The  delivery  of  complete  national  data  sets  is  crucial  for  the  production  of  EU  aggregates. 
Missing data limit the information value of waste statistics. Data is lacking where countries 
either have no data sources or insufficient data for estimates.  

The  number  of  missing  values  and  the  number  of  countries  reporting  missing  values  fell 
considerably between the reference years 2010 and 2012 for the waste generation data set. In 
2010,  8  countries  reported  missing  values  but  this  dropped  to  3  in  the  reference  year  2012. 
The  total  number  of  missing  values  fell  from  4.1%  in  the  reference  year  2010  to  1.5%  in 
2012.  The  tendency  is  the  same  for  the  waste  treatment  data,  though  less  pronounced.  The 

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Reference year means the period, which is described by the data. As the delay of the data is 18 months, 
the data for reference year 2012 is reported in 2014.  
Regulation (EC) 2150/2002, Section 7(2) of Annexes I and II. 

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share  of  missing  values  fell  from  3.5%  in  the  reference  year  2010  to  3.1%  in  2012  and  the 
number  of  countries  reporting  missing  values  decreased  from  8  to  6.  More  than  half  of  the 
missing  values  in  the  waste  treatment  data  sets  (55%)  concern  the  treatment  category 
'backfilling'. Backfilling data was collected for the first time in 2010 after an amendment of 
the Regulation10.  

4. 

DATA ACCURACY 

4.1. 

Data coverage 

Statistics on waste generation must be compiled for all economic sectors and for households, 
and  must  include  waste  arising  from  recovery and  disposal  operations  —  what  is  known  as 
secondary  waste.  The  statistics  should  also  cover  waste  from  small  businesses  (<  10 
employees), though such firms should be exempt from surveys wherever possible. 

Statistics on waste treatment cover all waste that is recovered or disposed of within a country, 
irrespective of the origin of the waste. The underlying concept of the Regulation is to collect 
data on the final destination of waste. Preparatory treatment operations are not covered. 

Coverage errors and differences in data coverage 

The coverage errors observed are mostly due to: 

 

 

 

differences in the application of the waste definition; 

different  methodological  approaches  and  different  priorities  in  national  waste 
management and waste statistics;  

sector-specific coverage problems. 

Four areas show the biggest differences in data coverage: 

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The  different  coverage  of  extractive  wastes  (waste  from  mining  and  quarrying 
activities) has a very high impact. The biggest differences across countries are due to 
the coverage of overburden, i.e. natural materials that are removed from mining sites 
to get access to the ore without being processed, and with regard to extractive wastes 
that are managed at the mine site. 

The distinction between waste and by-products has a significant impact on the waste 
amounts in the economic activities11 NACE A (agriculture, forestry and fishing) and 
NACE C (manufacturing). This is especially the case for the waste categories wood 
waste, animal and vegetal waste, and slags from metal production. 

The  variance  of  waste  generation  in  the  sector  NACE  F  (construction)  indicates 
differences in data coverage. 

As already mentioned in section 3, some countries are not yet able to report on the 
treatment category 'backfilling'.  

The overall impact of coverage errors is hard to assess. They can lead to both underestimates 
and  overestimates.  The  impact  is  assumed  to  be  highest  for  mineral  wastes  from  NACE  B 
(mining and quarrying).  

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OJ L 253, 28.9.2010, p 10 
Classified according to the Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE), 
current version NACE Rev. 2. 

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4.2. 

Breakdown by economic sectors 

The Regulation calls on Member States to report their data broken down by 19 categories (18 
waste generating activities plus households). The breakdown of economic activities is defined 
according to NACE. The correct allocation of waste to generating activities is a prerequisite 
for: 

 

 

the comparability of sector-specific waste amounts; 

the consistency of waste statistics with business statistics. 

The  allocation  of  waste  to  the  generating  activities  depends  on  the  methods  applied  for 
collecting  data  and  on  the  statistical  units  for  which  waste  statistics  are  compiled.  The 
comparability  and  consistency  of  data  are  based  on  the  use  of  business  registers  for  data 
collection. As the Regulation allows the use of either local units or kind-of-activity units as 
statistical units for compiling data, there can be differences in the allocation of wastes across 
countries even where the provisions of the Regulation are properly applied. 

The overall impact of misallocation is considered to be low. Unlikely cases such as  mineral 
wastes from waste treatment or stabilised wastes produced by households would be detected 
by validation and thus would be explained or corrected. Such cases do not occur very often.  

4.3.  Waste classification 

The  Regulation  establishes  the  breakdown  for  reporting  to  the  EU  by  waste  category 
according to the European Waste Classification for Statistics12 (EWC-Stat). However, it does 
not stipulate a specific classification to be used for national data collection. 
Most  countries  collect  their  data  according  to  the  EU  list  of  waste13,  which  comprises  839 
waste  types.  Despite  some  problems  in  applying  the  list,  the  widespread  use  of  this 
classification  ensures  a  high  level  of  comparability,  at  least  at  the  aggregated  level  that  is 
requested  in  the  Regulation.  The  overall  impact  of  classification  errors  on  data  accuracy  is 
considered to be small. 

4.4. 

Differences between waste generation and waste treatment 

The  difference  between  the  amount  generated  and  treated  in  the  EU  in  2012  is  around  200 
million  tonnes.  This  equals  approximately  8 %  of  all  generated  waste.  This  difference  has 
been stable over the last two reporting periods. It was higher in 2006 and 2008, at 400 million 
tonnes.  The  pattern  stays  the  same:  more  wastes  are  generated  than  treated.  In  2012  the 
difference  was  highest  for  sludges  and  liquid  wastes  from  waste  treatment  (approximately 
70 %) and lowest (nearly 0 %) for soils. 

Several phenomena can explain the difference between waste generation and waste treatment: 

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Not all waste is treated in the country where it is generated. Import and export data 
are  not  collected  under  the  Regulation,  thus  differences  arising  from  imports  and 
exports cannot be quantified with the Regulation data. Estimates from external trade 
data show that this effect explains about one-fifth of the difference for the whole EU. 
For individual Member States this effect may be higher. For example, for Germany 
waste  imports  amount  to  more  than  4 %  of  its  generated  waste,  while  the  United 
Kingdom exports more than 6 % of the waste it produces. 

Current version EWC-Stat Rev. 4, which has 51 categories. 
Established  by  Commission  Decision  2000/532/EC, 
2014/955/EU. 

last  amended  by  Commission  Decision 

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Data on waste generation cover both primary and secondary waste generated whereas 
waste  treatment  refers  to  final  treatment  and  treated  waste  should  be  counted  only 
once.  

All  waste  categories  except  sludges  are  reported  in  normal  wet  weight.  During  the 
pre-treatment process, for instance the preparatory treatment operations for disposal 
(treatment  of  liquid  waste,  e.g.  leachate  or  emulsion  of  oil/water),  water  weight  is 
lost and waste enters final treatment with a significant weight reduction.  

Some operations are excluded from the scope of Annex II of the Regulation, such as 
co-incineration plants that use only particular biomass wastes as fuel.  

Not all wastes are treated in the same year as generated. Some wastes are temporarily 
stored. Thus waste treated in year t may contain waste generated in year t-1. Waste 
generated in year t may be treated in year t+1. 

5. 

COMPARABILITY 

5.1. 

Comparability over time 

The  data  collected  for  the  reference  year  2012  was  the  second  collection  since  the  major 
changes brought in by the amended version of the Regulation. These changes have been well 
implemented  by  the  countries.  The  Commission  (Eurostat)  has  worked  continuously  on  the 
presentation  and  analysis  of  the  time  series,  which  consist  currently  of  5  reference  years 
(2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012). 

Countries’ quality reports have proved to be a useful tool to monitor methodological changes 
and  their  impacts  on  data  comparability.  Evaluation  of  national  quality  reports  shows  that 
nearly  all  Member  States  have  made  considerable  adjustments  to  national  waste  statistics 
approaches since 2004. Most countries are further improving their data collection with regard 
to data quality (e.g. closing of data gaps and improvement of coverage) and to the efficiency 
of their methods.   

Improving  data  collection  over  the  years  has  created  breaks  in  the  time  series.  Countries 
revise  the  data  sets  for  previous  years  to  limit  these  breaks.  Users  are  informed.  The 
Commission (Eurostat) flags the discontinuity of the time series in the datasets disseminated. 

5.2. 

Comparability across countries 

Due to common definitions and classifications, the comparability of data across countries is 
fairly  high  for  most  sectors  and  waste  types.  However,  some  problems  in  comparing  data 
across countries still arise due to the differences in coverage described in section 4.1.  

6. 

BURDEN ON BUSINESSES 

In their quality reports Member States show a commitment to keep the burden on businesses 
as low as possible. This is reflected in the increasing number of Member States which collect 
information  on  the  reporting  burden  and  are  able  to  quantify  the  average  time  respondents 
need  to  complete  questionnaires  or  reporting  forms.  The  information  is  gathered  from 
respondents via questionnaires or determined by specific studies. Around half of the Member 
States  use  administrative  data  as  their  main  source  for  waste  statistics  and  thus  avoid 
the  data  providers  with  additional  questionnaires.  Other  countries  use 
burdening 

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administrative  data  as  one  among  many  data  sources.  Small  companies  are  exempt  from 
surveys in different ways14. 

The number of countries is  growing that have implemented or  plan to implement electronic 
reporting  systems,  i.e.  systems  which  automatically  forward  data  required  under  waste 
legislation  from  waste  treatment  facilities  to  the  statistical  authorities.  Electronic  reporting 
tools for some or all waste data are now available in e.g. Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, 
Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway and the 
United Kingdom.  

7. 

INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT 

Data  produced  are  used  to  compute  indicators.  For  instance,  the  Union's  sustainable 
development  indicators  on  ‘generation  of  waste  excluding  major  mineral  wastes’  and  on 
‘generation of hazardous waste by economic activity’ are available on the Eurostat website. 
These  indicators  are  reported  in  kilogram  per  inhabitant  to  facilitate  comparison  across 
countries.  

A  new  indicator  set  on  the  management  of  waste  excluding  major  mineral  wastes  has  been 
developed. The indicator shows the final treatment of nationally generated waste15. In contrast 
to the data collected under the Regulation, the treatment of exported waste is also taken into 
account, whereas imported waste is excluded from the indicator.   

These  indicators  may  be  used  as  a  valuable  input  to  monitoring  implementation  of  the 
Commission’s circular economy strategy. 

8. 

ACHIEVEMENTS AND OUTLOOK 

Significant  progress  has  been  made  in  compiling  waste  statistics  since  reporting  started  in 
2006.  The  completeness  of  data  delivery  by  Member  States  has  steadily  improved.  Waste 
statistics have reached a fairly high degree of comparability across countries for most waste 
categories  and  sectors  and  considerable  progress  is  being  made  towards  achieving  full  data 
coverage.  Overall,  the  data  are  of  adequate  quality  for  most  countries.  However,  to  help 
achieve  the  EU’s  environment,  industrial  and  raw  materials  policy  objectives,  further 
improvement is  needed. The Commission is  continuing to  work with  the Member States  on 
these improvements, for example through seminars and exchanges of best practice. 

With the data delivery for 2012, data on waste generation and treatment are now available for 
5 reference years, i.e. for the period from 2004 to 2012. With the longer time series, the data 
is becoming increasingly useful, for example for developing indicators or as input for climate-
related analyses. 

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The  exemption  of  small  companies  from  surveys  is  handled  in  different  ways.  Some  countries  cover 
small companies by sample surveys and extrapolate the results. Most, though, exclude them completely. 
Either the figures may be ignored if the exclusion is consistent with the coverage and quality objectives 
of  Article  3  of  the  Regulation  or  extrapolated  by  factor-based  estimation  models.  Countries  have 
established different exclusion thresholds, defined mostly by the number of employees or by the amount 
of  waste  generated  per  year.  Some  countries  combine  the  two  criteria  to  make  sure  that  even  small 
companies are covered by data collection when they exceed the defined waste generation threshold. 
The  indicator  covers  all waste  except  ‘major  mineral  wastes’.  It  provides  a  coherent  set  of  indicators 
covering all waste treatment  categories of Annex II, section 8, of the Regulation. The indicator set is 
based on the waste treatment data of the Regulation reflecting the amounts of waste that are managed in 
Member  States.  In  addition,  foreign  trade  statistics  (COMEXT)  data  or  national  data  on  waste 
imports/exports  are  used  to  include  the  amounts  of  exported  waste  and  to  exclude  the  amounts  of 
imported waste from the calculation. 

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At  the  same  time,  methodological  improvements  in  individual  countries  may  still  have  a 
significant impact on the time series, at national level and at the level of the EU-28 aggregate. 
Developments over time should thus still be interpreted with caution and after careful analysis 
of the underlying data.  

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