Plastics Recycling and Energy Recovery Activities in Poland – Current Status and Development Prospects –

Poland generates yearly between 10 and 11.5 Mt (million tonnes) of post-consumer waste although exact data are not consistent. The Polish Statistical Office GUS published that in 2014 post-consumer waste generation was at the level of 10.3 Mt which corresponds to about 270 kg per capita per year – one of the lowest figures in Europe. In terms of waste treatment methods, 21 percent of this waste was recycled in mechanical recycling, 11 percent was recovered by composting, 15 percent was used in energy recovery processes. The remaining 53 percent (5.4 Mt) was landfilled which is a great reduction as compared to 2010 (landfilling at the level of 73 percent), however it needs to be mentioned that many experts challenge these figures claiming that waste generation and landfilling in reality are significantly (1 to 2 Mt) higher.