Packaging Waste Management and the Main Challenges in Recycling Processes

Abstract

Separate collection of packaging is an important step towards a circular economy. Setting a mandatory collection rate is an incentive for the development of efficient and well-targeted collection systems at national level, thus increasing the amount of waste sorted and potentially recycled. This article presents a comparative analysis, by waste type, of the evolution of packaging waste recycling, during the period 2008-2022. While in the period 2013-2022 the average recycling rate of packaging waste in EU member states was 65.74%, in Romania the rate was 50.31%, which requires a series of additional efforts. At the national level, during the period 2013-2022, the highest percentage of packaging waste recycling was represented by paper and cardboard (74.35%) and metal (56.02%), with wood waste ranking last, at 23.77%.