Greece Falls Far Behind EU Recycling Rate Targets

Greece is struggling to meet several key interim sustainability targets, which the EU has set along its path to transition the bloc to greener ways by 2025. To be fair, however, Greece’s underperformance is the norm rather than the exception, at least according to an article at Politico.

Politico takes a look at EU regulations and targets related to textiles, recycling, plastics, nature and cars and reveals that the EU’s middterm report card is full of failing grades.

By this year, EU countries should be recycling or preparing to reuse at least 55% of municipal waste, but the average rate of municipal waste recycling in the EU 27 is 48.7%, led by Germany (69.2%), Austria (62.6%), Slovenia (62.6%), and the Netherlands (57.5%), which are the only countries to have made the mark. Meanwhile, Greece is at the bottom of the deck at 17.5% (according to 2021 figures from Eurostat), ahead of Cyprus (14.8%), Malta (12.5%), and Romania (12.3%).