The indicator, expressed in percentage, is defined as the volume of waste landfilled (directly or indirectly) in a country per year divided by the volume of the waste treated in the same year. The data reflect the treatment of national waste and exclude waste that is imported from non-EU countries.
Waste taken into account excludes mineral waste from construction and demolition, other mineral wastes, soils and dredging spoils. This exclusion enhances comparability across countries, as mineral waste accounts for high quantities in some countries due to economic activities such as mining and construction. One exception, however, is that the indicator explicitly includes combustion wastes and solidified, stabilised and vitrified wastes, despite them being completely or partly mineral.
The indicator is derived from the two-yearly reporting of the countries according to the Waste Statistics Regulation. It covers landfilling of hazardous and non-hazardous waste from all economic sectors and from households, including waste from waste treatment (secondary waste) but excluding most mineral waste, and waste going into pre-treatment activities (like sorting, drying).
Disposal on land is defined by disposal codes D1, D5, D12 and labeled ‘deposit onto or into land’ (summarized as code DSP_L in the database). The indicator is based on data compiled according to Annex I of the Waste Statistics Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002) and the statistical waste nomenclature EWC-Stat set out in Annex III.