Press Release: Environmental accounts. Waste account. Year 2022.

Main results

The Spanish economy generated 110.1 million tonnes of waste in 2022, 5.4% more than the previous year.
48.9 million tonnes of waste was recycled, 0.8% less than in 2021.

Más información

The Spanish economy generated 110.1 million tonnes of waste in 2022, 5.4% more than the previous year. Of these, 3.5 million tonnes was hazardous waste (6.9% less than in 2021) and 106.6 million was non-hazardous waste (5.3% less).

The most significant categories of waste generated were Mineral wastes (43.4 million tonnes), Mixed wastes (38.1 million tonnes) and Animal and plant wastes (9.3 million tonnes).

Waste generated by type of waste. Year 2022

Thousands of tonnes

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In 2022, 96.8% of the waste generated was non-hazardous and 3.2% was hazardous. Of the total hazardous waste generated, 44.2% was Chemical waste, 32.7% was Discarded equipment and 18.9% was Mineral wastes.

Waste generated in the Spanish economy (percentage). Year 2022

Types of wastes generated by activity sectors and households

78.5% of waste generated in 2022 was produced by the Activity Sectors and 21.5% by Households.

The activity that recorded the highest increase was Services (7.1%). In contrast, waste generation fell in Industries (-14.4%).

Meanwhile, Households as consumers generated 0.4% more waste.

Waste generated by activity sectors and households. Year 2022

Thousands of tonnes

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By type of waste, the ones that had the greatest weight in those generated by Households were Mixed (79.4% of the total). On the other hand, the main wastes generated by the Activity Sectors were Mineral wastes (49.7% of the total).

The activities that generated the greatest amount of waste in 2022 were Construction (32.9% of the total) and Water supply, sanitation, waste management and decontamination (21.4%).

By sectors, Mineral waste was mainly caused by Construction (35.9 million tonnes, 2.2% less than in 2021) and Industry (5.8 million tonnes, 33.7% less). Mixed Wastes produced by Water

Supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (16.7 million, 14.9% less than the previous year).

Meanwhile, Animal and Plant Waste was generated for the most part by Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing (5.6 million tonnes, 3.8% less).

Final treatment of waste in the Spanish economy

Of the 110.1 million tonnes of waste generated in 2022, final waste treatment companies handled 89.5 million tonnes, which was 9.6% less than in the previous year.

Specifically, they treated 87 million tonnes of non-hazardous waste (9.9% less than in 2021) and 2.5 million tonnes of hazardous waste (2.1% more).

Of the total of treated waste, 34.6% were disposed of in landfill sites, 54.7% was recycled, 7.3% was reused in landfill operations and 3.4% was incinerated.

Final waste treatment (percentage). Year 2022

Recycled waste

In 2022, 48.9 million tonnes of waste were recycled, 0.8% less than the previous year and almost 9.4 million more than in 2016.

Recycled waste. 2016-2022 series

Millions of tonnes

In percentage terms, the amount of recycled waste increased by 4.8 points compared to 2021, and 17.6 points compared to 2016.

Recycled waste. 2016-2022 series

Percentage

Data revisions and updates

The data published today is provisional and will be revised when next year's data is released. All results of this operation are available on INEbase.

Methodological note

The objective of the Environmental Accounts (EA) is to integrate environmental information into the central system of National Accounts in a coherent way. They include a set of satellite accounts, which are transmitted annually, compiled using the accounting formats applicable to the different sectoral and territorial areas, with a major presence of physical data.

The Waste Account is useful for organising information on waste generation and the management of its flows to recycling facilities, landfill operations, incineration and controlled landfills. Important indicators can be obtained from it to measure the pressure that the economy exerts on the environment. They also make it possible to monitor the objectives of waste reduction policies and evaluate improvements in management for material recovery.

The study of waste includes the generation and treatment of waste in accordance with the guidelines established in Regulation (EC) 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November on waste statistics, as amended by Regulation (EU) 849/2010.

The INE annually compiles the Statistics on the Generation, Collection and Treatment of Waste with the aim of quantifying the origin and treatment of waste. This information, together with information from other bodies, mainly that provided by the Ministry for Ecological Transition, forms the basis for the preparation of the Waste Account.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.