The efficiency of municipal waste management systems in the environmental context in the European Union

Abstract

Performance criteria of non-energy materials hold an important place in the system of indicators of the green growth strategy. Management of generated municipal waste and its effectiveness depend to a large extent on the ratio of the amount of incinerated, recycled or composted waste to the amount taken to landfills. This ratio is tied to the level of economic development of the country. The conducted research revealed several regularities in the management of generated municipal waste. As the country's economic conditions improve the amount of generated municipal waste increases while the share sent to landfills decreases, and vice versa ‒ less economically developed European Union countries are characterized by a lower amount of generated waste, but a larger amount of it sent to landfills. Multi-criteria methods were used in order to compare countries according to the efficiency of their municipal waste management system in an environmental context. Such assessment entails combining the components into one summarizing measure and taking into account the impact of these components on the environment at the same time. The ranking of the countries revealed that higher efficiency is found in the more economically developed countries of the European Union even though the amount of municipal waste generated in them is higher too. It also became apparent that as it grew, the efficiency gradually decreased.