Packaging waste in the EU: 181 kg per person – a plain-language guide to Eurostat’s 2024 figures, and where Hungary stands

Packaging waste in the EU did not start falling in 2024. According to data Eurostat released on 22 October 2026, member states generated a total of 81.5 million tonnes of packaging waste, or 181.0 kilograms per inhabitant: 3.2 kg more than a year earlier and 19.6 kg more than in 2014. The recycling rate for plastic packaging edged up, but nowhere near the pace the EU’s 2030 targets require.

In short: Packaging waste in the EU amounted to 181.0 kg per person in 2024, of which 35.9 kg was plastic, and 42.4 percent of that plastic was recycled. The gaps between member states are huge: Latvia stands at 71.0 percent and Denmark at 22.5 percent, while Eurostat’s database contains no published packaging data at all for Hungary for 2023 or 2024 – the latest Hungarian figure is 27.6 percent, from 2022.

Packaging waste in the EU: the 2024 headline figures

Eurostat’s new release covers packaging waste generated by the whole economy – households as well as businesses and government. Per-capita values are calculated by dividing national amounts by the average resident population of the year.

The key numbers at a glance:

• 81.5 million tonnes of packaging waste were generated in the EU in 2024.
• 181.0 kg per person – up 3.2 kg on 2023 and 19.6 kg on 2014.
• 35.9 kg per person of plastic packaging waste, of which 15.3 kg was recycled.
• 42.4 percent is the EU recycling rate for plastic packaging (41.6 percent in 2023).

In a single year, then, packaging waste grew by more than three kilos per person, while Regulation (EU) 2025/40, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), points in exactly the opposite direction: member states must cut per-capita packaging waste by 5 percent by 2030, 10 percent by 2035 and 15 percent by 2040, compared with 2018 levels.

What is actually in the packaging bin?

The composition by weight has looked similar for years, and it is a useful correction to public debate: the largest packaging waste stream is not plastic but paper and cardboard.

• Paper and cardboard: 40.8 percent (roughly 33 million tonnes)
• Plastic: 19.9 percent (roughly 16 million tonnes)
• Glass: 18.1 percent
• Wood: 16.2 percent (mostly pallets, crates and cable drums)
• Metal: 4.8 percent
• Other: 0.2 percent

The share of paper and cardboard rose further compared with 2023 (from 40.4 to 40.8 percent), which fits the growth of e-commerce and the trend of packaging decisions switching from plastic to paper. Europe-wide paper recycling performance is covered in our article on the paper recycling rate in 2025 and Cepi’s latest report. Weight-based statistics do distort the picture, though: plastic packaging is light, so it makes up “only” a fifth of the tonnage, but it is far more prominent by item count and volume – and it is the fraction where genuine circularity is hardest to achieve.

Plastic: more generated, slightly more recycled

Plastic is the headline of Eurostat’s release. In 2024, each EU resident generated 35.9 kg of plastic packaging waste, of which 15.3 kg was recycled. Both values rose by 0.6 kg compared with 2023 – in other words, the extra plastic generated in one year was, on paper, fully matched by extra recycling, and the amount not recycled per person (20.6 kg) did not change meaningfully.

The ten-year picture is less encouraging. Between 2014 and 2024, plastic packaging waste generated rose by 6.1 kg per person, but the amount recycled rose by only 3.4 kg. Working backwards, around 29.8 kg was generated and 11.9 kg recycled per person in 2014 – a rate of roughly 40 percent. Over a decade, the rate therefore improved by just two to three percentage points, while the 2030 target is 55 percent. The missing 12–13 percentage points would have to be closed in five years.

An important methodological note: for plastic, only material that actually becomes plastic again counts as recycling. Energy recovery – for instance plastic sent to cement kilns as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) – does not improve this indicator.

Latvia at the top, Denmark at the bottom

The country ranking for 2024 again shows an enormous spread:

• Highest rates: Latvia (71.0%), Belgium (58.2%), Poland (56.0%), Czechia (53.7%)
• Lowest rates: Denmark (22.5%), Finland (26.9%), France (27.4%), Cyprus (27.8%), Austria (27.9%)

Latvia’s jump is particularly striking: from 59.2 percent in 2023, it now leads by a wide margin with 71 percent. Three member states – Latvia, Belgium and Poland – already met the 2030 target of 55 percent in 2024. Notable declines were recorded in Spain (from 46.2 to 38.4 percent) and Cyprus, although both figures carry a break-in-series or estimate flag. For a high-performing national benchmark, see our piece on PET bottle recycling in Germany in 2025.

For total packaging waste, the EU recycling rate was 67.0 percent in 2024 (67.4 percent in 2023), so the EU currently sits above the 2025 target of 65 percent but below the 2030 target of 70 percent. Belgium leads with 83.2 percent; Malta is last with 44.5 percent.

Two small but significant details are worth noting. The first is revision: the EU’s 2023 plastic rate was published as 42.1 percent last year, while this year’s release shows 41.6 percent for the same year, and Denmark’s 2023 value has been revised from 27.8 to 22.7 percent – so Denmark has not fallen back, it has essentially stood still. Member states revise their reports after the fact, so year-on-year comparisons should always be made within the same data release. The second is missing countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Sweden do not appear in the 2024 table, so Eurostat partly estimated the EU average.

Where plastic goes up the chimney

Some of the countries at the bottom of the ranking look almost perfect at first glance. In Denmark, Finland and Austria, 99–100 percent of plastic packaging waste is “recovered” – but only a small part of it becomes plastic again. The gap between the recovery rate and the recycling rate largely represents energy recovery: the waste is incinerated and energy is generated from it. According to Eurostat’s 2024 data:

• Denmark: 22.5% recycling, approx. 77% energy recovery
• Finland: 26.9% recycling, approx. 73% energy recovery
• Austria: 27.9% recycling, approx. 72% energy recovery
• Ireland: 30.5% recycling, approx. 68% energy recovery

Where large incineration capacity has been built, plastic easily flows there, and this can hold back material recycling.

The picture is not black and white, however. Belgium (58.2%) and Germany (51.3%) also send roughly 40–50 percent of their plastic packaging to energy recovery, yet they are among the top performers, because they combine it with strong collection and sorting. At the other extreme, Greece (33.6%) and Croatia (29.9%) incinerate almost nothing, yet still perform poorly, because landfill is the main destination there. Across the 2024 country data, the link between the share incinerated and the recycling rate is only weak.

According to the latest data from 2022, Hungary is weak on both counts: 27.6 percent of its plastic packaging was recycled and roughly 20 percent went to energy recovery, so a significant share ended up in landfill.

The lesson: incineration is not in itself the enemy of recycling, but it can be a convenient loophole. The decisive question is whether a country builds on collection and sorting first, or on the incinerator.

Where does Hungary stand?

A year ago, the news was that Hungary ranked last in plastic packaging recycling with 23.0 percent – a figure published at the time as provisional. In the current Eurostat tables, however, there is no published packaging data for Hungary for either 2023 or 2024: not for plastic, not for other materials, and not for total packaging waste. So Hungary’s absence from the 2024 “bottom three” does not signal an improvement; there is simply nothing to rank.

The latest available Hungarian data are from 2022, and they fall well below the EU average:

• Total packaging waste: 42.9 percent (EU: 65.3 percent)
• Plastic: 27.6 percent (EU: 40.5 percent)
• Paper and cardboard: 67.8 percent (EU: 83.2 percent)
• Metal: 61.3 percent (EU: 76.7 percent)
• Glass: 29.8 percent (EU: 75.9 percent)
• Wood: 17.0 percent (EU: 34.1 percent)

The largest gap is in glass, where Hungary reached barely two-fifths of the EU level. The Hungarian time series is also moving the wrong way: the recycling rate for total packaging waste fell from 48.6 percent in 2020 to 42.9 percent in 2022.

The broader picture is similar. Hungary’s municipal waste recycling rate – for which 2024 data do exist – stands at 33.6 percent, against an EU average of 49.4 percent, and has barely moved since 2020.

This means the impact of Hungary’s mandatory deposit return system (REpont), launched in January 2024, cannot currently be assessed from Eurostat statistics. The processing side is covered in our article on the ALTEO DRS plant in Kistarcsa and its 28,000 tonnes of capacity. Beverage containers are, in any case, only one slice of plastic packaging waste: films, multilayer and flexible packaging make up a large share, and for these, the quality of collection and sorting decides how much of a tonne of separately collected waste actually becomes plastic again.

The missing data series is a problem in itself. Compliance with EU targets can only be demonstrated with credible, timely reporting, and figures on the 2025 targets are due in 2027. The framework within which Hungary must close the gap is also changing: our article on the waste management concession review in Hungary explains what is at stake.

What exactly does Eurostat measure? How to read the env_waspac data

The release is based on the env_waspac dataset (Packaging waste by waste management operations), which Eurostat updated on 21 October 2026. According to its structure definition file, the dataset contains more than 114,000 observations from 1997 to 2024, covering the EU-27 plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Northern Ireland. A few details help interpret the figures correctly:

• Breakdown by material: paper and cardboard, plastic, wood, metal (aluminium and steel separately), glass and other packaging. Aluminium and ferrous metals recovered from incineration bottom ash are reported on separate lines – which can significantly affect metal recycling rates.
• Treatment operations: generation, recovery, energy recovery, recycling and repair (the latter mainly relevant for wooden pallets).
• Where recycling takes place: the dataset separately shows recycling in the reporting member state, in other EU member states and outside the EU. This matters for understanding the Hungarian situation, since a significant part of sorted material goes to foreign recyclers.
• Packaging placed on the market: alongside total and sales packaging, the quantity of reusable packaging is also reported – an indicator that will become increasingly important because of the PPWR’s reuse targets.
• Estimated values: the EU averages for 2023 and 2024 carry an “i” flag, meaning Eurostat imputed missing national data. Individual countries may carry “p” (provisional), “e” (estimated) or “b” (break in series) flags – worth keeping in mind when reading rankings.
• Two types of rate: the dataset publishes separate recycling rates for the 2008 targets and for the targets applying from 2025 onwards. Because of the stricter calculation point introduced from 2020 and the more accurate accounting of composite packaging, EU recycling fell by 3.4 percent in 2020, so figures before and after 2020 are not directly comparable.

Targets, deadlines and the PPWR

The 2018 amendment of Directive 94/62/EC set recycling minimums in two stages. By the end of 2025, 65 percent of all packaging waste and 50 percent of plastic packaging had to be recycled; by the end of 2030, these rise to 70 and 55 percent respectively. By material, the 2030 minimums are 85 percent for paper, 75 percent for glass, 80 percent for ferrous metals, 60 percent for aluminium and 30 percent for wood.

The PPWR, applicable from 12 August 2026, turns this framework into a directly applicable regulation and adds prevention, reuse and mandatory recycled content. Compliance burdens are already being debated: our analysis of EPR simplification for small businesses explains how the European Parliament wants to ease one of them.

Based on the 2024 figures, packaging waste in the EU presents a mixed picture. Recycling is improving slowly, but the amount generated keeps growing, so the EU is currently moving in the wrong direction on its reduction target.

What do the numbers mean in practice?

Behind the statistics are everyday decisions. A few conclusions follow directly from the 2024 data:

• Prevention is the cheapest tonne. The rise in per-capita amounts shows that recycling alone cannot “outgrow” the problem.
• Sorting quality matters. For plastic, only material that becomes plastic again counts, so clean, correctly sorted separate collection directly improves the rate.
• Deposit return works, but it is not enough. Collecting beverage containers is an important step, but the big untapped reserve lies in films and mixed plastic packaging.
• Design decides. Packaging that is not designed for recycling will not become secondary raw material even if it is thrown away correctly – a point explored in our article on packaging design for recycling and the CGF’s new paper.

For the bigger picture of other EU waste streams in 2024, see our plain-language guides to e-waste in the EU and food waste in the EU.

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FAQ: packaging waste in the EU

How much packaging waste was generated in the EU in 2024?

The EU generated 81.5 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2024, or 181.0 kilograms per inhabitant. That is 3.2 kg more than in 2023 and 19.6 kg more than in 2014. The figure covers the whole economy, meaning it includes packaging waste from businesses and government as well as from households.

What was the recycling rate for plastic packaging in 2024?

The EU recycled 42.4 percent of its plastic packaging waste in 2024, up from 41.6 percent in 2023. Each person generated 35.9 kg of plastic packaging waste, of which 15.3 kg was recycled. The EU minimum for 2030 is 55 percent, so a further 12–13 percentage points of improvement is needed within five years.

Which countries have the highest and lowest plastic packaging recycling rates?

Latvia had the highest rate in 2024 at 71.0 percent, followed by Belgium (58.2%), Poland (56.0%) and Czechia (53.7%). The lowest rates were reported by Denmark (22.5%), Finland (26.9%) and France (27.4%). The gap between the best and the weakest member state is therefore close to fifty percentage points.

Where does Hungary stand in plastic packaging recycling?

Eurostat currently publishes no packaging data for Hungary for 2023 or 2024, so the country does not appear in the 2024 ranking. The latest available figures are from 2022: 27.6 percent for plastic and 42.9 percent for total packaging waste, both well below the EU average. The effect of REpont therefore cannot yet be assessed.

What is EU packaging waste made of?

Paper and cardboard is the largest stream, accounting for 40.8 percent of packaging waste in 2024. It is followed by plastic (19.9%), glass (18.1%), wood (16.2%), metal (4.8%) and other materials (0.2%). By weight, plastic makes up only a fifth of the total, but it is far more prominent by item count and volume.

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🔗 Official sources and references: 👉

• Eurostat: Plastic packaging waste in the EU: 35.9 kg per person (22 October 2026) – https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20261022-1
• Eurostat: Packaging waste by waste management operations (env_waspac), data structure and metadata, DOI: 10.2908/ENV_WASPAC
• Eurostat: Recycling rates for packaging waste (ten00063), Recovery rates for packaging waste (ten00062), Recycling rate of municipal waste (cei_wm011) – downloaded data tables
• Eurostat Statistics Explained: Packaging waste statistics
• Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR)
• Directive 94/62/EC, as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/852

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