Packaging Is a Third of What Europeans Throw Away
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 14 May 2026
- Data source
- Eurostat
- Reference period
- 2022
- Last updated
- 06 September 2026
Key estimates
- The EU generated 186.5 kg of packaging waste per inhabitant in 2022.
- Italy records 232.4 kg, Ireland 231.7 kg and Germany 228.6 kg.
- Bulgaria records 80.9 kg, Croatia 82.2 kg and Cyprus 95.8 kg.
- Only six Member States are above the EU figure, and twenty-one below it — an average pulled up by the largest economies.
- Packaging accounts for roughly a third of municipal waste generated in the Union, a proportion derived here from the two series.
A waste stream defined by what it wraps
Packaging waste is counted separately from other municipal waste because it is regulated separately: the Union sets recovery and recycling targets for it by material, and Member States report against them.
In 2022 the EU generated 186.5 kg of packaging waste per inhabitant. Set against municipal waste generation of roughly 520 kg per person in the same year, packaging is close to a third of everything a European household discards.
An average that describes almost nobody
Twenty-one of twenty-seven Member States fall below the EU figure of 186.5 kg. Only six are above it.
That distribution is unusual, and it happens because the EU figure is a population-weighted average and the Member States above it include Germany and Italy — the Union's largest and third-largest populations. Two large high-packaging countries pull the aggregate above three quarters of the Member States.
Anyone reading 186.5 kg as a typical European figure is therefore reading it wrongly. The median Member State is nearer 160 kg.
The top
Italy records 232.4 kg, Ireland 231.7 kg and Germany 228.6 kg, with Luxembourg at 209.8 kg behind them.
Ireland's position is consistent with its performance on the circular material use rate, where it records 2.0%: a high-consumption economy generating a large volume of packaging and returning a small share of its total material use to circulation.
Italy is the contrast. It generates the most packaging waste per person in the Union and records one of the highest circular material use rates at 21.6%. High throughput and high recirculation are not mutually exclusive, and Italy is the case that demonstrates it.
The bottom
Bulgaria records 80.9 kg, Croatia 82.2 kg, Cyprus 95.8 kg and Greece 105.0 kg.
The Bulgarian figure is under two fifths of the Italian one. Packaging volume tracks retail structure — how much is sold pre-packed, in what sizes, through what kind of shop — more closely than it tracks population or land area, and the gap between eastern and western retail formats is visible in it.
Why the reference year is 2022
Packaging waste is reported to the Commission on a longer cycle than most indicators here, and 2022 is the most recent year for which all 27 Member States have reported. The 2023 release is incomplete: four Member States are missing from it, so using it would mean comparing twenty-three countries against an aggregate built from twenty-seven.
Packaging waste generated per person, 2022
| Country | kg per inhabitant | Gap to EU averagepercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 232.4 | +45.9 |
| Ireland | 231.7 | +45.2 |
| Germany | 228.6 | +42.1 |
| European Unionaggregate | 186.5 | — |
| Cyprus | 95.8 | −90.7 |
| Croatia | 82.2 | −104.3 |
| Bulgaria | 80.9 | −105.6 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- Reporting definitions differ at the margin
- Member States report packaging placed on the market and packaging waste generated using national systems that differ in how they treat industrial and commercial packaging. Large differences between countries are meaningful; differences of a few kilograms are not.
- 2022, not 2025
- Packaging waste is reported with a longer lag than most indicators on this site, and the 2023 release is incomplete for four Member States. These figures are not directly comparable with the 2025 readings published elsewhere here.
- Generated, not discarded by households
- The stream includes packaging from commercial and industrial sources as well as households, so it is broader than what leaves a home. Countries with large distribution sectors record more of it.
- The share of municipal waste is derived
- The statement that packaging is roughly a third of municipal waste is computed by Silver Data Lab from two separate Eurostat series with different reference years, and is an approximation rather than a published figure.
Frequently asked questions
- How much packaging waste does the EU generate?
- 186.5 kg per inhabitant in 2022 — roughly a third of all municipal waste generated in the Union.
- Which EU country generates the most packaging waste?
- Italy, at 232.4 kg per person in 2022, narrowly ahead of Ireland at 231.7 kg and Germany at 228.6 kg.
- Which EU country generates the least packaging waste?
- Bulgaria, at 80.9 kg per person in 2022, followed by Croatia at 82.2 kg and Cyprus at 95.8 kg — under two fifths of the Italian figure.
- Why is the EU figure higher than most Member States?
- Because it is weighted by population, and two of the highest-packaging countries, Germany and Italy, are among the Union's most populous. Twenty-one of twenty-seven Member States fall below the EU average, so it should not be read as a typical national value.
Methodological note
Eurostat publishes packaging waste generated in kilograms per inhabitant under the packaging waste reporting obligation. This study uses the generation operation for 2022.
2022 is used rather than a later year because it is the most recent release with complete coverage of the 27 Member States: the 2023 data is missing Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Poland, and comparing twenty-three Member States against an EU aggregate built from twenty-seven would misstate the comparison.
The comparison with municipal waste generation, and the observation that the EU figure sits above twenty-one of the twenty-seven Member States, are derived by Silver Data Lab from the published values.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser. The filters below are the ones applied.
Generation of packaging waste per capita
cei_pc040
- Filters applied:
- freq=A · waste=W1501 · wst_oper=GEN · unit=KG_HAB · time=2022
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-11
- Source last updated:
- 2026-05-11
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