EU: 621 kg of waste a head, 74% landfilled

TL;DR

In its 2026 Country Report on Malta (3 June 2026), the European Commission wrote that “waste generation is still high with 621 kg per person generated in 2024 (compared with the EU average of 517 kg per person)”, and that “over the last 10 years, Malta has brought its landfill rate down from 82% to 74%. However, this is still one of the highest in the EU, and well above the EU average of 22% (2023).” We re-ran the figures from the Eurostat dataset the report cites.

1. The waste figures are right. Eurostat env_wasmun gives 621 kg of municipal waste per person in Malta in 2024 and 517 kg for the EU-27 (provisional). Malta is 20% above the EU average and sixth-highest of the 20 states with 2024 data.
2. The landfill figures are right, on the basis the report uses. Landfilled waste as a share of waste generated was 82.0% in 2013 and 73.6% in 2023. Malta had the third-highest rate in 2023 (after Greece and Romania) and the highest of the states reporting for 2024 (72.1%).
3. “Down from 82% to 74%” is mostly one year. The rate stayed between 76% and 91% from 2013 to 2022 and fell from 83% to 74% between 2022 and 2023. The Commission’s own summary elsewhere in the report calls this “only a marginal drop in the last decade”.
4. Different sources, different landfill shares. Measured against waste treated rather than generated, the same 2024 data give 79.2%: this is the figure The Shift reported (CC-081). Both are correct; they answer different questions.
5. Verdict: supported (high confidence). Every number in the passage reproduces from the cited Eurostat data. The EU-27 landfill rate for 2023 is not published in the dataset; the 2022 and 2024 values (22.6% and 21.3%) bracket the report’s 22%.

1. Supported
2. Largely supported
3. Not substantiated
4. Misleading
5. Contradicted

IN THIS REPORT

1 The claim and what we could verify

The 2026 Country Report for Malta is a Commission staff working document (SWD(2026) 218 final) published with the European Semester spring package and transmitted to the Council as document 10135/26 ADD 1 [1]. We read the Council copy in full on 5 October 2026. The waste passage is in Annex 8 (“Competitiveness and the green transition”, page 75), with footnotes (156) and (158) citing Eurostat’s municipal waste dataset [2]. The same figures appear in the report’s summary (pages 17–18), which adds the recycling rate (16.7% in 2024, EU 48%) and the 2035 landfill target of 10%.

2 Method

Question. Do the figures in the passage reproduce from the data the report cites, and is the comparison with other member states right?

Evidence. We downloaded env_wasmun (updated 30 March 2026) for Malta and the EU-27, 2012–2024, and for every member state for 2023–2024 (tools/cc-111-report/fetch.py), and recomputed each figure with a script (calc.py; outputs in data/cc-111/checks.csv). The “landfill rate” is landfill and other disposal (operations D1–D7 and D12) divided by waste generated, the basis that reproduces both of the report’s Malta figures; we also give the share of waste treated. The EU-27 total for 2024 carries Eurostat’s flag “i” (see metadata); Malta’s values carry no flags.

Grades. Official statistics are grade C in our scale. The claim is a statistical statement; we used no peer-reviewed literature because none is needed to test it. Verdicts follow the five-point scale in Appendix A.

3 What the data show

Malta generated 621 kg of municipal waste per person in 2024, up from 603 kg in 2023; the EU-27 figure is 517 kg. Malta’s figure peaked at 697 kg in 2019. Landfilled waste was 82.0% of waste generated in 2013 and 73.6% in 2023; in 2024 it was 72.1%. Incineration was 2.7% of waste generated in 2023, matching the report’s “3%”.

4 Where the evidence points different ways

5 Testing the claim

6 Verdict and requests for evidence

Why. The per-person figures (621 kg, 517 kg), the landfill rates (82%, 74%), the incineration rate (3%) and Malta’s position among member states all reproduce from env_wasmun on the basis the report uses. The one figure we cannot reproduce exactly, the EU-27 landfill rate for 2023, is not in the dataset, but the neighbouring years agree with it.

What this verdict does not say. It does not rate Malta’s waste policy. The Ministry’s claim of “strong progress” on recycling is checked separately (CC-004), and the landfill shares reported by other outlets are not wrong because they differ from this one.

Evidence we are asking for

• From Eurostat: the EU-27 landfill rate for 2023, which env_wasmun does not yet publish.
• From Malta’s waste authorities: an explanation of the 2015 values, when landfilled municipal waste (676 kg per person) exceeds waste generated (643 kg).

7 Limitations

• The EU-27 total for 2024 is flagged by Eurostat; 2024 data are missing for seven member states, so the 2024 ranking covers 20 states.
• Municipal waste statistics depend on national reporting; definitions of municipal waste and of treatment differ between countries and over time.
• We did not test the summary’s recycling figures (16.7%, EU 48%) or the 2035 target; the recycling question is checked in CC-004.
• We read the report in its Council copy; the Commission’s own publication should be identical.

References

1. [1] European Commission (3 June 2026). 2026 Country Report – Malta. SWD(2026) 218 final; Council document 10135/26 ADD 1. Annex 8, p. 75, and summary, pp. 17–18. https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10135-2026-ADD-1/en/pdf
2. [2] Eurostat. Municipal waste by waste management operations (env_wasmun), updated 30 Mar 2026, retrieved 5 Oct 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_wasmun/default/table
3. [3] MiŻien. CC-081 claim record (The Shift, landfill share rising) and CC-004 report (recycling): claims/CC-081, claims/CC-004.
4. [4] MiŻien. Calculation script and outputs: tools/cc-111-report/calc.py; data/cc-111/checks.csv.

Appendix A: series standards and verdict scale

Every investigation in this series follows the same rules so that verdicts are comparable and challengeable.

Confidence

High: multiple independent lines of evidence agree. Moderate: evidence is relevant but incomplete or indirect. Low: evidence is thin, second-hand or conflicting.

Evidence grades

A experiment · B observational study with a control or gradient · C review, guidance or official statistics · D assertion or anecdote. ◆ marks a source known only second-hand.

Standards

• Quote the speaker, not the headline, with outlet and date, and link the original where possible.
• Separate the claim from the evidence offered for it, and say who made which statement.
• Grade the evidence and show differing views side by side where the evidence is unsettled.
• State what we could not access or verify, and what would change the verdict either way.
• Ask for the missing evidence in specific, answerable requests.
• Offer a right of reply where a check finds a claim Not substantiated, Misleading or Contradicted (or a pledge Not measurable, Off track or Missed), before wider circulation, and append responses.
• Correct errors openly with a version number and change log.
• Whistle-blow only on evidence: a verdict of Misleading or Contradicted requires documents or data that can be shown, not inference.
• Check every side. Government, opposition, NGOs and developers are held to the same standard.

Appendix B: revision log