The European Union's rate of recycling plastic packaging reached over 42 percent in 2016, compared with 24 percent in 2005, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union on Monday.
The rate for recovering construction and demolition waste reached 89 percent in 2016, and the recycling rate of packaging waste exceeded 67 percent in 2016, compared with 64 percent in 2010.
According to the data, the recycling rate for municipal waste stood at 46 percent in 2017, compared with 35 percent in 2007 and for waste from electrical and electronic equipment including computers, televisions, fridges and mobile phones, and also including valuable, recoverable materials or e-waste in the EU reached 41 percent in 2016, compared with 28 percent in 2010.
In spite of these high recycling rates, on average only 12 percent of material resources used in the EU in 2016 came from recycled products and recovered materials that have the potential to save extraction of primary raw materials.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr