Malta has the second highest rate of municipal waste that is landfilled in the EU, figures out yesterday showed.

With 87 per cent of waste generated by households going to the landfill, Malta placed second to Romania where 99 per cent of waste was landfilled. Statistics released by Eurostat for 2012 showed that only nine per cent of household waste was recycled and a measly four per cent was turned into compost. Malta has no incineration facility for municipal waste.

On the other end of the spectrum, recycling and composting of municipal waste accounted for 65 per cent of treated waste treated in Germany, 62 per cent in Austria and 57 per cent Belgium.

But Malta was not among the highest of waste producers. Every resident generated 589kg of waste. Denmark had the highest per capita amount of waste generated, 668kg, and Cyprus, Luxembourg and Germany all registered amounts above 600kg per person.

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