Belgians produced 63 million tonnes of waste in 2016

Belgians produced 63 million tonnes of waste in 2016
Wastebags piled up on a sidewalk in Brussels. Credit: © Belga

Statbel, the Belgian Office for Statistics reports that the Belgian economy and households combined produced more than 63 million tonnes of waste in 2016. After a remarkable decrease in 2012 (53.8 million tonnes), a significant increase in the total waste quantity was observed in 2014 (58 million) and in 2016.

The most striking increases were recorded within the construction sector (19.6 million tonnes), in particular mineral waste, as well as in the waste processing industry (32.9 million).

Agriculture remains the sector with the lowest waste production, with 269,192 tonnes in 2016, compared to 311,833 in 2014 and 165,462 in 2012.

Households produced less waste (5 million tonnes) in 2016 than two and four years previously (5.4 and 5.3 million tonnes respectively), despite the growing population.


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