The EU as a whole recycles 42% of plastic packaging waste generated, with Lithuania leading the way at 74% — followed by Bulgaria (65%), Cyprus (62%), Slovenia (60%), and Czechia (59%).
Luxembourg, meanwhile, recycles 33%, which puts us in shared 7th from the bottom with Austria. Worse than Luxembourg are Malta (24%), Estonia, France, and Finland (all 27%), Ireland (31%), and Hungary (32%).
The rate of recycling in the union has improved quite markedly over the past decade or so, standing at 26.4% in 2006. Luxembourg is roughly in line with where the union was in 2010, at which point the EU recycled some 32.5% of plastic packaging waste.
Luxembourg’s rate has not changed much, and stood at just under 32% in 2006. Reliance on plastic has also increased, with Luxembourg generating 25,238 tonnes of plastic waste in 2006; compared to 28,847 tonnes in 2016.
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