Data on collected municipal waste by country expressed in thousand of tons.

Municipal waste, collected by or on behalf of municipalities, by public or private enterprises, includes waste originating from: households, commerce and trade, small businesses, office buildings and institutions (schools, hospitals, government buildings). It also includes bulky waste (e.g., white goods, old furniture, mattresses) and waste from selected municipal services, e.g., waste from park and garden maintenance, waste from street cleaning services (street sweepings, the content of litter containers, market cleansing waste), if managed as waste. The definition excludes waste from municipal sewage network and treatment, municipal construction and demolition waste.

Municipal waste collected refers to waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities, as well as municipal waste collected by the private sector. It includes mixed waste, and fractions collected separately for recovery operations (through door-to-door collection and/or through voluntary deposits).

Data on municipal waste collected are usually gathered through surveys of municipalities, which are responsible for waste collection and disposal, or from transport companies that collect waste and transport it to a disposal site. Such surveys deliver fairly reliable data. However, the figures only cover waste collected by or on behalf of municipalities. Therefore:

• Amounts of waste will vary, depending on the extent that municipal waste collection covers small industries and the services sector.
• Waste collected by the informal sector, waste generated in areas not covered by the municipal waste collection system or illegally dumped waste are not included.

Caution is therefore advised when comparing countries.

Sources:

• UNSD/UNEP Questionnaires on Environment Statistics, Waste section.
• Eurostat Environmental Data Centre on Waste.
• OECD Environmental Data Compendium, Waste section.
• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, New York, 2009